1
TROTH - 1. Loam Loom Leaf Litter
2
TROTH - 2. Gold Plum
3
TROTH - 3. Thistle
4
TROTH - 4. Tides Reflected In Her Eyes
5
TROTH - 5. Cocoonist (prelude)
6
TROTH - 6. Cocoonist
7
TROTH - 7. Myrtle Mystes
8
TROTH - 8. Unfinished Rose
9
TROTH - 9. Deep Umbel
territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX, OZ
Black Vinyl LP
Tracklist
1. Loam Loom Leaf Litter
2. Gold Plum
3. Thistle
4. Tides Reflected In Her Eyes
5. Cocoonist (prelude)
6. Cocoonist
7. Myrtle Mystes
8. Unfinished Rose
9. Deep Umbel
Slowly yet firmly blooming into focus, An Unfinished Rose is the new album from Australian duo Troth. This is
their first since relocating to Hobart, Tasmania and their introduction to Night School Records. With a detailed
web of past releases on labels A Colourful Storm, Mammas Mysteriska Jukebox, Knekelhuis and Bowman’s
own Altered States Tapes imprint, An Unfinished Rose is the group’s most realised and composed work thus far.
While still drawing on the improvisatory and DIY practices that informed Troth’s beginnings, it points to
a new incarnation of the duo’s music; an intentional language emerging from the fog of obfuscation and mists of
uncertainty.
Over these 9 meditations on change, acceptance, renewal and rebirth, An Unfinished Rose finds Amelia Besseny
and Cooper Bowman peeling back some of the roughhewn architecture that defined their earlier releases to reveal
a masterful - if auto-didactic - use of space and melody. Composition and improvisation compliment and feed each
other throughout, with locked-loop earworms providing the springboard for lines of clarinet or synth melody, and the
negative space between chord clusters giving ample room for Besseny’s most confident vocal performances to
date. Shaving off a little of the defining dissonance and tape compression of old reveals Troth’s music in radiant
daylight, humbly accepting of its place in the world while yearning for better, more sympathetic modes of living.
Leaning more heavily on acoustic instrumentation and post-production processes than previously, the result is a
transcendent body of work infused with an almost zen-like presence.
Troth’s music exists in the border between forming and becoming, its goal to project a kind of preternatural beauty,
leaving interpretation open to the listener. Field recordings, happenstance and improvisation may provide seeds for
the duo’s compositions, particularly on Side A, but there is a deft touch of songcraft on show. Loam Loom Leaf
Litter opens An Unfinished Rose, directly referencing natural cycles of life, death and regeneration, before the
blissed-out drum machine groove of Gold Plum continues a discussion concerning the totality of nature and one’s
place in it. Besseny’s vocal, swelling like an ocean churn in duet with itself is adorned with synthesised harp and a
revolving synth pattern, conjuring plumes of medieval smoke. Thistle’s rounded, bass-heavy drums, nodding to the
vast echo of dub, is a relatively new terrain for Troth. It’s propulsive and thumping, pulsing with a meaning and
symbolism consistent with Troth’s past work, referenced overtly in Bessey’s lyrics - “Say it too much and it loses its
meaning…”. Similarly, the sprawling modern-classical suite, Tides Reflected In Her Eyes, is intentional in its lyrical
themes while traversing new ground, revelling in layers of bowed cello and vocal intonations.
Side B’s 4 tracks feel like Troth’s most thoroughly accessible and affecting music to date. Leaning into their own
detoured version of Synth Pop, Cocoonist explores downtempoisms via a crunchy low frequency synth, and
dream-like, fuzzy trip-hop modalities, not unlike Besseny and Bowman’s other group, Th Blisks. Following on,
Myrtle Mystes is an open and searching DIY pop song, forged out of drum machine, bass guitar and cello. (An)
Unfinished Rose’s title-track is a clear stand-out, built upon an evocative rhythm sample that appears to change
emotional resonance with each undulating repetition. Its cascading waves of affect, interjected with a subtle breeze
of synth, bowed instrumentation and soaring, densely-layered vocals.
An Unfinished Rose is enveloping, warm, forgiving. Difficult, yet retaining a unique beauty. Troth’s music aims to
celebrate the duo;s shared experiences of being in the world, despite the complexity often surrounding us all.
Theirs is a message of hope and perseverance, learning and patience.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Black Vinyl LP
Tracklist
1. Loam Loom Leaf Litter
2. Gold Plum
3. Thistle
4. Tides Reflected In Her Eyes
5. Cocoonist (prelude)
6. Cocoonist
7. Myrtle Mystes
8. Unfinished Rose
9. Deep Umbel
Slowly yet firmly blooming into focus, An Unfinished Rose is the new album from Australian duo Troth. This is
their first since relocating to Hobart, Tasmania and their introduction to Night School Records. With a detailed
web of past releases on labels A Colourful Storm, Mammas Mysteriska Jukebox, Knekelhuis and Bowman’s
own Altered States Tapes imprint, An Unfinished Rose is the group’s most realised and composed work thus far.
While still drawing on the improvisatory and DIY practices that informed Troth’s beginnings, it points to
a new incarnation of the duo’s music; an intentional language emerging from the fog of obfuscation and mists of
uncertainty.
Over these 9 meditations on change, acceptance, renewal and rebirth, An Unfinished Rose finds Amelia Besseny
and Cooper Bowman peeling back some of the roughhewn architecture that defined their earlier releases to reveal
a masterful - if auto-didactic - use of space and melody. Composition and improvisation compliment and feed each
other throughout, with locked-loop earworms providing the springboard for lines of clarinet or synth melody, and the
negative space between chord clusters giving ample room for Besseny’s most confident vocal performances to
date. Shaving off a little of the defining dissonance and tape compression of old reveals Troth’s music in radiant
daylight, humbly accepting of its place in the world while yearning for better, more sympathetic modes of living.
Leaning more heavily on acoustic instrumentation and post-production processes than previously, the result is a
transcendent body of work infused with an almost zen-like presence.
Troth’s music exists in the border between forming and becoming, its goal to project a kind of preternatural beauty,
leaving interpretation open to the listener. Field recordings, happenstance and improvisation may provide seeds for
the duo’s compositions, particularly on Side A, but there is a deft touch of songcraft on show. Loam Loom Leaf
Litter opens An Unfinished Rose, directly referencing natural cycles of life, death and regeneration, before the
blissed-out drum machine groove of Gold Plum continues a discussion concerning the totality of nature and one’s
place in it. Besseny’s vocal, swelling like an ocean churn in duet with itself is adorned with synthesised harp and a
revolving synth pattern, conjuring plumes of medieval smoke. Thistle’s rounded, bass-heavy drums, nodding to the
vast echo of dub, is a relatively new terrain for Troth. It’s propulsive and thumping, pulsing with a meaning and
symbolism consistent with Troth’s past work, referenced overtly in Bessey’s lyrics - “Say it too much and it loses its
meaning…”. Similarly, the sprawling modern-classical suite, Tides Reflected In Her Eyes, is intentional in its lyrical
themes while traversing new ground, revelling in layers of bowed cello and vocal intonations.
Side B’s 4 tracks feel like Troth’s most thoroughly accessible and affecting music to date. Leaning into their own
detoured version of Synth Pop, Cocoonist explores downtempoisms via a crunchy low frequency synth, and
dream-like, fuzzy trip-hop modalities, not unlike Besseny and Bowman’s other group, Th Blisks. Following on,
Myrtle Mystes is an open and searching DIY pop song, forged out of drum machine, bass guitar and cello. (An)
Unfinished Rose’s title-track is a clear stand-out, built upon an evocative rhythm sample that appears to change
emotional resonance with each undulating repetition. Its cascading waves of affect, interjected with a subtle breeze
of synth, bowed instrumentation and soaring, densely-layered vocals.
An Unfinished Rose is enveloping, warm, forgiving. Difficult, yet retaining a unique beauty. Troth’s music aims to
celebrate the duo;s shared experiences of being in the world, despite the complexity often surrounding us all.
Theirs is a message of hope and perseverance, learning and patience.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
More records from TROTH
1
Troth - Balancing Arc
2
Troth - Forge Fabric
3
Troth - Komodo
4
Troth - Oak Corridor
5
Troth - Weight Of A Feather
6
Troth - When The Rivers Were The Highways
7
Troth - The Slowest Dawn
8
Troth - In Lore
9
Troth - Elkhorn
10
Troth - Aether Frolic
Oak Corridor is the second full-length album from Newcastle, Australian duo Troth (Amelia Besseny & Cooper Bowman). It follows 2020’s warmly received album, Flaws In The Glass (Altered States Tapes) and 2021’s Small Movements In Radiance mini-album (Not Not Fun). While the same themes and intentions remain, this time Troth channel their ambient experiments into an environ located somewhere closer to minimal-wave and synth-pop.
While Oak Corridor is their most ‘song-based’ album to date, it continues the respectful treatment of natural themes found in their previous releases, further tying in elements of balance, truth, justice, humility, strains of mysticism from varied origins and an opposition to the encroachment of ill-advised development surrounding them in Newcastle (and Australia more broadly). The album is a truly collaborative affair and offers something of a sound-diary of the two’s relationship.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
While Oak Corridor is their most ‘song-based’ album to date, it continues the respectful treatment of natural themes found in their previous releases, further tying in elements of balance, truth, justice, humility, strains of mysticism from varied origins and an opposition to the encroachment of ill-advised development surrounding them in Newcastle (and Australia more broadly). The album is a truly collaborative affair and offers something of a sound-diary of the two’s relationship.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
More records from Night School Records
LP - Territory: WW- UK/USA/CA/Benelux/AU/NZ
2LP LTD VINYL REPRESS ON TRANSPARENT GREEN VINYL
TRACKLIST:
1. Design - Premonition
2. Vision - Lucifer’s Friend
3. Richard Bone - Alien Girl
4. John Howard - I Tune Into You
5. Ian North - We’re Not Lonely
6. Selwin Image - The Unknown
7. Harry Kakoulli - I’m On A Rocket
8. Rich Wilde - The Lady Wants To Be Alone
9. Billy London - Woman
10. Alan Burnham - Science Fiction
11. The Microbes - Computer
12. The Goo-Q - I’m A Computer
13. Gerry & The Holograms - Gerry & The Holograms
14. The Warlord - The Ultimate Warlord
15. Die Marinas - Fred From Jupiter
16. Dee Jay Bert & Eagle - I Am Your Master
17. Peta Lily & Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb
18. Sole Sister - It’s Not What You Are But How
19. Alasdair Riddell - Do You Read Me?
20. Karel Fialka - Armband (The Mystery Song)
21. John Springate - My Life
22. Incandescent Luminaire - Famous Names
23. Disco Volante - No Motion
24. Dream Unit - A Drop In The Ocean
Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.
All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.
At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.
There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.
The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.
The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
2LP LTD VINYL REPRESS ON TRANSPARENT GREEN VINYL
TRACKLIST:
1. Design - Premonition
2. Vision - Lucifer’s Friend
3. Richard Bone - Alien Girl
4. John Howard - I Tune Into You
5. Ian North - We’re Not Lonely
6. Selwin Image - The Unknown
7. Harry Kakoulli - I’m On A Rocket
8. Rich Wilde - The Lady Wants To Be Alone
9. Billy London - Woman
10. Alan Burnham - Science Fiction
11. The Microbes - Computer
12. The Goo-Q - I’m A Computer
13. Gerry & The Holograms - Gerry & The Holograms
14. The Warlord - The Ultimate Warlord
15. Die Marinas - Fred From Jupiter
16. Dee Jay Bert & Eagle - I Am Your Master
17. Peta Lily & Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb
18. Sole Sister - It’s Not What You Are But How
19. Alasdair Riddell - Do You Read Me?
20. Karel Fialka - Armband (The Mystery Song)
21. John Springate - My Life
22. Incandescent Luminaire - Famous Names
23. Disco Volante - No Motion
24. Dream Unit - A Drop In The Ocean
Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.
All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.
At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.
There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.
The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.
The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Molly Nilsson - 1. Die Cry Lie
2
Molly Nilsson - 2. Valhalla
3
Molly Nilsson - 3. Swedish Nightmare
4
Molly Nilsson - 4. Classified
5
Molly Nilsson - 5. Long Time No See
6
Molly Nilsson - 6. Fatal Distraction
7
Molly Nilsson - 7. Get A Life
8
Molly Nilsson - 8. Joe Hill’s Last Will
9
Molly Nilsson - 9. How Much Is The World
10
Molly Nilsson - 10. Creeping Beauty
11
Molly Nilsson - 11. All The Way
12
Molly Nilsson - 12. Big Life
13
Molly Nilsson - 13. The Bitter End
LP - territory: WW- UK/USA/CA/Benelux/AU/NZ/JP
Lp - BLACK VINYL ONLY IN GLOSS LAMINATED SLEEVE
Tracklist:
1. Die Cry Lie
2. Valhalla
3. Swedish Nightmare
4. Classified
5. Long Time No See
6. Fatal Distraction
7. Get A Life
8. Joe Hill’s Last Will
9. How Much Is The World
10. Creeping Beauty
11. All The Way
12. Big Life
13. The Bitter End
The word "amateur" originates from the Latin word "amator," meaning "lover" or "admirer". This Latin term is derived from "amare," which means "to
love". The French adopted "amateur" from Latin, and the English then borrowed it from French, initially retaining the sense of someone who loves or
is devoted to something. Over time, the English usage of "amateur" also developed a meaning related to a lack of professional skill or experience.
How did a word derived from love become a slur? Is love really so defenseless? They say love conquers all, but in reality isn’t love quite ridiculous?
It has no intention, no motive, no agenda. How could it possibly prevail? It can’t be bought or sold, or so they say.Its mere existence can't be proven or
even measured. What an impossible thing. Trying and failing, time and time again, no wonder cynicism always seems to win. I see “amateurism” as a
delighted, even foolish, protest. Protest against everything. Of what’s expected of someone, or expected of someone to desire or strive for. To be elite,
to be expert, to be professional, to be a master, to excel and succeed. Where’s the joy in that? I just want to have fun. I want to want. I want to love.
And keep doing it, forever. I want to have fun, even when it’s tiring and sometimes even heaven is boring as hell. I want to be bad. I want to do my
own thing. “I vant to be alone”. I want to be someone so dedicated to their passion that it starts to seem like there’s something wrong with them. All
the way. We can take it all the way, and never get it back.
” - Molly Nilsson
Amateur is the 12th studio album by Molly Nilsson. Deep in the teeth of a career that threatens to tip into something resembling a “legacy,” Molly
Nilsson celebrates with an album recorded instinctively, quickly and bursting with so many moments of emotional brilliance and clarity it may be her
greatest yet. Hers has been a career spent reaching out, perennially powerful in her earnestness, a warrior ridiculously defenceless and armed with a
glittering sincerity. Shearing herself of the machinations of the music industry, recording at home, writing direct to the heart.
Amateur is a jubilee for losers. A treatise in 13 songs, Amateur states clearly that we should live our life with eternal curiosity, offers us an open hand
of comradeship out of the rat race. The songs on the album are both some of the most personal of Nilsson’s career and the most anthemic. First
single How Much Is The World asks us to re-evaluate value in the face of a Neo-liberal system squeezing the life out of our loves. Pulsing opener Die
Cry Lie satirises the commercialisation of emotion in the form of a shout-along diss-track. With a pounding rhythm track held down by gorgeous chord
changes, heartbreaker Valhalla carries the torch for the main themes of the album: never growing up, making mistakes with kindness, moving on.
When the drums crash in on the line “It’s going to get better now, you’ll see, going to be much better off without me” there is a world of feeling swirling
about in the vocal delivery. One reading of the track might be that it’s a break up song but the subtext is classic Molly Nilsson: by living truthfully,
making mistakes, we’re active agents against the myriad oppressions of the world.
All The Way takes the theme for a run into the eternal sunset. It’s a manifesto for living fully. “Take it all the way, and never get it back” - it’s the
process that’s the important point. The journey not the destination. Big Life, follows on like a part 2: An ode not only to Molly Nilsson’s career of
endless gigs, endless connections with people, it’s a massive ode for following your dreams, doing it yourself. Closer The Bitter End is a powerful
anthem for friendship, another definition of love infused in Nilsson’s work, A beautifully poignant ode to comradeship til the end, it seems to be the
songwriter approaching aging, approaching life’s inevitability with the same vigour and earnestness, the same love of life she enjoyed at the onset of
her career.
There are moments on Amateur shrouded in reverb, slightly out of focus, forcing the listener to step deeper into the Mollyverse.. Nilsson’s open-armed
beseeching to the world permeates every beat, every chord. These are songs exploding with life: the chunky, aggressive bassline on the punker Get A
Life can’t hide its massive, catchy chorus. The sweeping Swedish Nightmare might be a tongue-in-cheek self-reference, but at its heart it’s a song
about the duality of living life large, what is a dream, what is a nightmare? Molly Nilsson says you can’t have one without the other, and why would you
want to?
Here’s to making mistakes.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Lp - BLACK VINYL ONLY IN GLOSS LAMINATED SLEEVE
Tracklist:
1. Die Cry Lie
2. Valhalla
3. Swedish Nightmare
4. Classified
5. Long Time No See
6. Fatal Distraction
7. Get A Life
8. Joe Hill’s Last Will
9. How Much Is The World
10. Creeping Beauty
11. All The Way
12. Big Life
13. The Bitter End
The word "amateur" originates from the Latin word "amator," meaning "lover" or "admirer". This Latin term is derived from "amare," which means "to
love". The French adopted "amateur" from Latin, and the English then borrowed it from French, initially retaining the sense of someone who loves or
is devoted to something. Over time, the English usage of "amateur" also developed a meaning related to a lack of professional skill or experience.
How did a word derived from love become a slur? Is love really so defenseless? They say love conquers all, but in reality isn’t love quite ridiculous?
It has no intention, no motive, no agenda. How could it possibly prevail? It can’t be bought or sold, or so they say.Its mere existence can't be proven or
even measured. What an impossible thing. Trying and failing, time and time again, no wonder cynicism always seems to win. I see “amateurism” as a
delighted, even foolish, protest. Protest against everything. Of what’s expected of someone, or expected of someone to desire or strive for. To be elite,
to be expert, to be professional, to be a master, to excel and succeed. Where’s the joy in that? I just want to have fun. I want to want. I want to love.
And keep doing it, forever. I want to have fun, even when it’s tiring and sometimes even heaven is boring as hell. I want to be bad. I want to do my
own thing. “I vant to be alone”. I want to be someone so dedicated to their passion that it starts to seem like there’s something wrong with them. All
the way. We can take it all the way, and never get it back.
” - Molly Nilsson
Amateur is the 12th studio album by Molly Nilsson. Deep in the teeth of a career that threatens to tip into something resembling a “legacy,” Molly
Nilsson celebrates with an album recorded instinctively, quickly and bursting with so many moments of emotional brilliance and clarity it may be her
greatest yet. Hers has been a career spent reaching out, perennially powerful in her earnestness, a warrior ridiculously defenceless and armed with a
glittering sincerity. Shearing herself of the machinations of the music industry, recording at home, writing direct to the heart.
Amateur is a jubilee for losers. A treatise in 13 songs, Amateur states clearly that we should live our life with eternal curiosity, offers us an open hand
of comradeship out of the rat race. The songs on the album are both some of the most personal of Nilsson’s career and the most anthemic. First
single How Much Is The World asks us to re-evaluate value in the face of a Neo-liberal system squeezing the life out of our loves. Pulsing opener Die
Cry Lie satirises the commercialisation of emotion in the form of a shout-along diss-track. With a pounding rhythm track held down by gorgeous chord
changes, heartbreaker Valhalla carries the torch for the main themes of the album: never growing up, making mistakes with kindness, moving on.
When the drums crash in on the line “It’s going to get better now, you’ll see, going to be much better off without me” there is a world of feeling swirling
about in the vocal delivery. One reading of the track might be that it’s a break up song but the subtext is classic Molly Nilsson: by living truthfully,
making mistakes, we’re active agents against the myriad oppressions of the world.
All The Way takes the theme for a run into the eternal sunset. It’s a manifesto for living fully. “Take it all the way, and never get it back” - it’s the
process that’s the important point. The journey not the destination. Big Life, follows on like a part 2: An ode not only to Molly Nilsson’s career of
endless gigs, endless connections with people, it’s a massive ode for following your dreams, doing it yourself. Closer The Bitter End is a powerful
anthem for friendship, another definition of love infused in Nilsson’s work, A beautifully poignant ode to comradeship til the end, it seems to be the
songwriter approaching aging, approaching life’s inevitability with the same vigour and earnestness, the same love of life she enjoyed at the onset of
her career.
There are moments on Amateur shrouded in reverb, slightly out of focus, forcing the listener to step deeper into the Mollyverse.. Nilsson’s open-armed
beseeching to the world permeates every beat, every chord. These are songs exploding with life: the chunky, aggressive bassline on the punker Get A
Life can’t hide its massive, catchy chorus. The sweeping Swedish Nightmare might be a tongue-in-cheek self-reference, but at its heart it’s a song
about the duality of living life large, what is a dream, what is a nightmare? Molly Nilsson says you can’t have one without the other, and why would you
want to?
Here’s to making mistakes.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
LP - territory: territory: WW- UK/USA/CA/Benelux/AU/NZ/JP
CD
Tracklist:
1. Die Cry Lie
2. Valhalla
3. Swedish Nightmare
4. Classified
5. Long Time No See
6. Fatal Distraction
7. Get A Life
8. Joe Hill’s Last Will
9. How Much Is The World
10. Creeping Beauty
11. All The Way
12. Big Life
13. The Bitter End
The word "amateur" originates from the Latin word "amator," meaning "lover" or "admirer". This Latin term is derived from "amare," which means "to
love". The French adopted "amateur" from Latin, and the English then borrowed it from French, initially retaining the sense of someone who loves or
is devoted to something. Over time, the English usage of "amateur" also developed a meaning related to a lack of professional skill or experience.
How did a word derived from love become a slur? Is love really so defenseless? They say love conquers all, but in reality isn’t love quite ridiculous?
It has no intention, no motive, no agenda. How could it possibly prevail? It can’t be bought or sold, or so they say.Its mere existence can't be proven or
even measured. What an impossible thing. Trying and failing, time and time again, no wonder cynicism always seems to win. I see “amateurism” as a
delighted, even foolish, protest. Protest against everything. Of what’s expected of someone, or expected of someone to desire or strive for. To be elite,
to be expert, to be professional, to be a master, to excel and succeed. Where’s the joy in that? I just want to have fun. I want to want. I want to love.
And keep doing it, forever. I want to have fun, even when it’s tiring and sometimes even heaven is boring as hell. I want to be bad. I want to do my
own thing. “I vant to be alone”. I want to be someone so dedicated to their passion that it starts to seem like there’s something wrong with them. All
the way. We can take it all the way, and never get it back.
” - Molly Nilsson
Amateur is the 12th studio album by Molly Nilsson. Deep in the teeth of a career that threatens to tip into something resembling a “legacy,” Molly
Nilsson celebrates with an album recorded instinctively, quickly and bursting with so many moments of emotional brilliance and clarity it may be her
greatest yet. Hers has been a career spent reaching out, perennially powerful in her earnestness, a warrior ridiculously defenceless and armed with a
glittering sincerity. Shearing herself of the machinations of the music industry, recording at home, writing direct to the heart.
Amateur is a jubilee for losers. A treatise in 13 songs, Amateur states clearly that we should live our life with eternal curiosity, offers us an open hand
of comradeship out of the rat race. The songs on the album are both some of the most personal of Nilsson’s career and the most anthemic. First
single How Much Is The World asks us to re-evaluate value in the face of a Neo-liberal system squeezing the life out of our loves. Pulsing opener Die
Cry Lie satirises the commercialisation of emotion in the form of a shout-along diss-track. With a pounding rhythm track held down by gorgeous chord
changes, heartbreaker Valhalla carries the torch for the main themes of the album: never growing up, making mistakes with kindness, moving on.
When the drums crash in on the line “It’s going to get better now, you’ll see, going to be much better off without me” there is a world of feeling swirling
about in the vocal delivery. One reading of the track might be that it’s a break up song but the subtext is classic Molly Nilsson: by living truthfully,
making mistakes, we’re active agents against the myriad oppressions of the world.
All The Way takes the theme for a run into the eternal sunset. It’s a manifesto for living fully. “Take it all the way, and never get it back” - it’s the
process that’s the important point. The journey not the destination. Big Life, follows on like a part 2: An ode not only to Molly Nilsson’s career of
endless gigs, endless connections with people, it’s a massive ode for following your dreams, doing it yourself. Closer The Bitter End is a powerful
anthem for friendship, another definition of love infused in Nilsson’s work, A beautifully poignant ode to comradeship til the end, it seems to be the
songwriter approaching aging, approaching life’s inevitability with the same vigour and earnestness, the same love of life she enjoyed at the onset of
her career.
There are moments on Amateur shrouded in reverb, slightly out of focus, forcing the listener to step deeper into the Mollyverse.. Nilsson’s open-armed
beseeching to the world permeates every beat, every chord. These are songs exploding with life: the chunky, aggressive bassline on the punker Get A
Life can’t hide its massive, catchy chorus. The sweeping Swedish Nightmare might be a tongue-in-cheek self-reference, but at its heart it’s a song
about the duality of living life large, what is a dream, what is a nightmare? Molly Nilsson says you can’t have one without the other, and why would you
want to?
Here’s to making mistakes.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
CD
Tracklist:
1. Die Cry Lie
2. Valhalla
3. Swedish Nightmare
4. Classified
5. Long Time No See
6. Fatal Distraction
7. Get A Life
8. Joe Hill’s Last Will
9. How Much Is The World
10. Creeping Beauty
11. All The Way
12. Big Life
13. The Bitter End
The word "amateur" originates from the Latin word "amator," meaning "lover" or "admirer". This Latin term is derived from "amare," which means "to
love". The French adopted "amateur" from Latin, and the English then borrowed it from French, initially retaining the sense of someone who loves or
is devoted to something. Over time, the English usage of "amateur" also developed a meaning related to a lack of professional skill or experience.
How did a word derived from love become a slur? Is love really so defenseless? They say love conquers all, but in reality isn’t love quite ridiculous?
It has no intention, no motive, no agenda. How could it possibly prevail? It can’t be bought or sold, or so they say.Its mere existence can't be proven or
even measured. What an impossible thing. Trying and failing, time and time again, no wonder cynicism always seems to win. I see “amateurism” as a
delighted, even foolish, protest. Protest against everything. Of what’s expected of someone, or expected of someone to desire or strive for. To be elite,
to be expert, to be professional, to be a master, to excel and succeed. Where’s the joy in that? I just want to have fun. I want to want. I want to love.
And keep doing it, forever. I want to have fun, even when it’s tiring and sometimes even heaven is boring as hell. I want to be bad. I want to do my
own thing. “I vant to be alone”. I want to be someone so dedicated to their passion that it starts to seem like there’s something wrong with them. All
the way. We can take it all the way, and never get it back.
” - Molly Nilsson
Amateur is the 12th studio album by Molly Nilsson. Deep in the teeth of a career that threatens to tip into something resembling a “legacy,” Molly
Nilsson celebrates with an album recorded instinctively, quickly and bursting with so many moments of emotional brilliance and clarity it may be her
greatest yet. Hers has been a career spent reaching out, perennially powerful in her earnestness, a warrior ridiculously defenceless and armed with a
glittering sincerity. Shearing herself of the machinations of the music industry, recording at home, writing direct to the heart.
Amateur is a jubilee for losers. A treatise in 13 songs, Amateur states clearly that we should live our life with eternal curiosity, offers us an open hand
of comradeship out of the rat race. The songs on the album are both some of the most personal of Nilsson’s career and the most anthemic. First
single How Much Is The World asks us to re-evaluate value in the face of a Neo-liberal system squeezing the life out of our loves. Pulsing opener Die
Cry Lie satirises the commercialisation of emotion in the form of a shout-along diss-track. With a pounding rhythm track held down by gorgeous chord
changes, heartbreaker Valhalla carries the torch for the main themes of the album: never growing up, making mistakes with kindness, moving on.
When the drums crash in on the line “It’s going to get better now, you’ll see, going to be much better off without me” there is a world of feeling swirling
about in the vocal delivery. One reading of the track might be that it’s a break up song but the subtext is classic Molly Nilsson: by living truthfully,
making mistakes, we’re active agents against the myriad oppressions of the world.
All The Way takes the theme for a run into the eternal sunset. It’s a manifesto for living fully. “Take it all the way, and never get it back” - it’s the
process that’s the important point. The journey not the destination. Big Life, follows on like a part 2: An ode not only to Molly Nilsson’s career of
endless gigs, endless connections with people, it’s a massive ode for following your dreams, doing it yourself. Closer The Bitter End is a powerful
anthem for friendship, another definition of love infused in Nilsson’s work, A beautifully poignant ode to comradeship til the end, it seems to be the
songwriter approaching aging, approaching life’s inevitability with the same vigour and earnestness, the same love of life she enjoyed at the onset of
her career.
There are moments on Amateur shrouded in reverb, slightly out of focus, forcing the listener to step deeper into the Mollyverse.. Nilsson’s open-armed
beseeching to the world permeates every beat, every chord. These are songs exploding with life: the chunky, aggressive bassline on the punker Get A
Life can’t hide its massive, catchy chorus. The sweeping Swedish Nightmare might be a tongue-in-cheek self-reference, but at its heart it’s a song
about the duality of living life large, what is a dream, what is a nightmare? Molly Nilsson says you can’t have one without the other, and why would you
want to?
Here’s to making mistakes.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Al Karpenter - 1. We Are All Karpenters
2
Al Karpenter - 2. Mundo Chabola
3
Al Karpenter - 3. Izugarrizko Buruak (Greatest Heads)
4
Al Karpenter - 4. A Brand New Astrophobia
5
Al Karpenter - 5. The Most Grudgeful Lie
6
Al Karpenter - 6. Tout Avant de Devenir Rein
7
Al Karpenter - 7. Stop The Genocide!
8
Al Karpenter - 8. Worm City
9
Al Karpenter - 9. Death Song
10
Al Karpenter - 10.Perfect Love
LP - territory: WW- UK/USA/CA/Benelux
LP LTD 300 with 8 page 12” booklet
Tracklist
1. We Are All Karpenters
2. Mundo Chabola
3. Izugarrizko Buruak (Greatest Heads)
4. A Brand New Astrophobia
5. The Most Grudgeful Lie
6. Tout Avant de Devenir Rein
7. Stop The Genocide!
8. Worm City
9. Death Song
10.Perfect Love
Released by Hegoa Records and Night School Records.
Greatest Heads is the fourth album by the radical Basque- Berlinesque group Al Karpenter. A
deconstruction of structured “rock” music, here Al Karpenter re-imagine “the band” to explore
the intersection between Free music, afro-beat, the avant garde and gonzo rock.
If Theodore Adorno wrote “To Write Poetry after Auschwitz is Barbaric” in 1949, Al Karpenter
attempts to answer the difficult question today; what kind of music can be done in the face of a
genocide? Álvaro Matilla, Marta Sainz, Enrique Zaccagnini & Mattin’s response to the planet’s
slipping into a vortex of hate is to create a music ecstatic, a music of protest bursting with multiple
musical languages and glossaries, full of overlapping histories and thrilling tensions.
Greatest Heads posits a plurality of musics both in opposition and intertwined: Al Karpenter play rock
instruments pulled apart in the studio in post-production. Distorted rhythm chunks bit-crushed and
dissipated, segments of freedom oppressed by waves of sound invading from every direction. The
interplay between the chief instrumentalists and renowned, storied sound artist Mattin creates
something akin to ESP freedom-seekers Cro Magnon playing in Miles Davis’ early 70s groups, The
Los Angeles Free Music Society tightening up into a clenched fist of plunderphonics and runaway
percussion.
We Are All Karpenters opens Greatest Heads with the most straight-forward song refrain of the record
accompanied by a band that soon crash into eruption, imagining Sun City Girls in full free rock mode.
The modulating synth sound soon sucks the band into its wake to create a spine-chilling climax of
distorted sound, made fully orgasmic with mastering engineer Rashad Becker’s attention to detail. On
Izugarrizko Buruak (Greatest Heads), Matilla intones in Basque over a mangled distorto-beat. A Brand
New Astraphobia creates a black space for a heavily processed guitar to blow up before falling to earth
at night, a gentle figure serenading the coming end.
On Side B, the band begins by being masticated by a brutal phaser, squelching and stretching the
music into new territories. The overt message of Stop The Genocide! is besieged by violence before
Worm City aggressively samples the ghosts of soul music, mixing in noise bursts, prepared piano and
swiping, abstracted sound. Epic closer Perfect Love feels like a beat poetry performance on a burnt
world, still grasping for community, for home, for some sort of human love. A Mad love, then; an angry
love fuelled by solidarity and collaboration.
The band’s cascading layers of references and polyglottal musics attempt to create the perfect lover,
alive with rage and disorientating ecstasy: Al Karpenter.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
LP LTD 300 with 8 page 12” booklet
Tracklist
1. We Are All Karpenters
2. Mundo Chabola
3. Izugarrizko Buruak (Greatest Heads)
4. A Brand New Astrophobia
5. The Most Grudgeful Lie
6. Tout Avant de Devenir Rein
7. Stop The Genocide!
8. Worm City
9. Death Song
10.Perfect Love
Released by Hegoa Records and Night School Records.
Greatest Heads is the fourth album by the radical Basque- Berlinesque group Al Karpenter. A
deconstruction of structured “rock” music, here Al Karpenter re-imagine “the band” to explore
the intersection between Free music, afro-beat, the avant garde and gonzo rock.
If Theodore Adorno wrote “To Write Poetry after Auschwitz is Barbaric” in 1949, Al Karpenter
attempts to answer the difficult question today; what kind of music can be done in the face of a
genocide? Álvaro Matilla, Marta Sainz, Enrique Zaccagnini & Mattin’s response to the planet’s
slipping into a vortex of hate is to create a music ecstatic, a music of protest bursting with multiple
musical languages and glossaries, full of overlapping histories and thrilling tensions.
Greatest Heads posits a plurality of musics both in opposition and intertwined: Al Karpenter play rock
instruments pulled apart in the studio in post-production. Distorted rhythm chunks bit-crushed and
dissipated, segments of freedom oppressed by waves of sound invading from every direction. The
interplay between the chief instrumentalists and renowned, storied sound artist Mattin creates
something akin to ESP freedom-seekers Cro Magnon playing in Miles Davis’ early 70s groups, The
Los Angeles Free Music Society tightening up into a clenched fist of plunderphonics and runaway
percussion.
We Are All Karpenters opens Greatest Heads with the most straight-forward song refrain of the record
accompanied by a band that soon crash into eruption, imagining Sun City Girls in full free rock mode.
The modulating synth sound soon sucks the band into its wake to create a spine-chilling climax of
distorted sound, made fully orgasmic with mastering engineer Rashad Becker’s attention to detail. On
Izugarrizko Buruak (Greatest Heads), Matilla intones in Basque over a mangled distorto-beat. A Brand
New Astraphobia creates a black space for a heavily processed guitar to blow up before falling to earth
at night, a gentle figure serenading the coming end.
On Side B, the band begins by being masticated by a brutal phaser, squelching and stretching the
music into new territories. The overt message of Stop The Genocide! is besieged by violence before
Worm City aggressively samples the ghosts of soul music, mixing in noise bursts, prepared piano and
swiping, abstracted sound. Epic closer Perfect Love feels like a beat poetry performance on a burnt
world, still grasping for community, for home, for some sort of human love. A Mad love, then; an angry
love fuelled by solidarity and collaboration.
The band’s cascading layers of references and polyglottal musics attempt to create the perfect lover,
alive with rage and disorientating ecstasy: Al Karpenter.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Molly Nilsson - Un Po’ Più Vicino al Cielo
2
Molly Nilsson - Il Peggior Bar di Caracas
Superlimited Live Sold 7" - Only 40 Available
Tracklist:
1. Un Po’ Più Vicino al Cielo
2. Il Peggior Bar di Caracas
D.S.A. and Night School Records are once more teaming up to release a limited edition 7”: Certe Notti by Molly Nilsson. The
record contains the two new songs Un Po’ Più Vicino al Cielo and Il Peggior Bar di Caracas.
The songs were written and recorded in August 2024 in San Giorgio del Sannio, Benevento, during a month long artist
residency, made possible thanks to the kind invitation and hospitality of AUNA a.p.s.
A whole moon spent between local festivities, sagras and late nights in the best of worst bars, making new friends
forever and life-long memories (including an unforgettable Inti-Illimani concert), all infused with sweet drinks and ancient
lore of local witches.
The cover art depicts the view from the window on one of those nights, the rising moon, Liquore Strega yellow, and the
inlay hints at Nilsson's favourite crosswords magazine. With all these distractions it’s really a wonder any music was
made at all. But thanks in large part to endless espressi and ginseng, two new songs came to be. The first is Nilsson’s
first opus in the Italian language! The second, a hommage to her favourite joint and hang out, The Worst
Bar in Caracas.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Tracklist:
1. Un Po’ Più Vicino al Cielo
2. Il Peggior Bar di Caracas
D.S.A. and Night School Records are once more teaming up to release a limited edition 7”: Certe Notti by Molly Nilsson. The
record contains the two new songs Un Po’ Più Vicino al Cielo and Il Peggior Bar di Caracas.
The songs were written and recorded in August 2024 in San Giorgio del Sannio, Benevento, during a month long artist
residency, made possible thanks to the kind invitation and hospitality of AUNA a.p.s.
A whole moon spent between local festivities, sagras and late nights in the best of worst bars, making new friends
forever and life-long memories (including an unforgettable Inti-Illimani concert), all infused with sweet drinks and ancient
lore of local witches.
The cover art depicts the view from the window on one of those nights, the rising moon, Liquore Strega yellow, and the
inlay hints at Nilsson's favourite crosswords magazine. With all these distractions it’s really a wonder any music was
made at all. But thanks in large part to endless espressi and ginseng, two new songs came to be. The first is Nilsson’s
first opus in the Italian language! The second, a hommage to her favourite joint and hang out, The Worst
Bar in Caracas.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
LP - territory: WW- UK/USA/CA/ Benelux
2LP ULTRA LTD MIRROR BOARD PRESSING ON CRYSTAL CLEAR VINYL, HAS THE BOOKLET, AND AN EXTRA 6 PANEL FOLDED POSTER, ONE OF TWO IMAGES.
TRACKLIST:
1. Design - Premonition
2. Vision - Lucifer’s Friend
3. Richard Bone - Alien Girl
4. John Howard - I Tune Into You
5. Ian North - We’re Not Lonely
6. Selwin Image - The Unknown
7. Harry Kakoulli - I’m On A Rocket
8. Rich Wilde - The Lady Wants To Be Alone
9. Billy London - Woman
10. Alan Burnham - Science Fiction
11. The Microbes - Computer
12. The Goo-Q - I’m A Computer
13. Gerry & The Holograms - Gerry & The Holograms
14. The Warlord - The Ultimate Warlord
15. Die Marinas - Fred From Jupiter
16. Dee Jay Bert & Eagle - I Am Your Master
17. Peta Lily & Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb
18. Sole Sister - It’s Not What You Are But How
19. Alasdair Riddell - Do You Read Me?
20. Karel Fialka - Armband (The Mystery Song)
21. John Springate - My Life
22. Incandescent Luminaire - Famous Names
23. Disco Volante - No Motion
24. Dream Unit - A Drop In The Ocean
Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.
All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.
At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.
There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.
The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.
The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
2LP ULTRA LTD MIRROR BOARD PRESSING ON CRYSTAL CLEAR VINYL, HAS THE BOOKLET, AND AN EXTRA 6 PANEL FOLDED POSTER, ONE OF TWO IMAGES.
TRACKLIST:
1. Design - Premonition
2. Vision - Lucifer’s Friend
3. Richard Bone - Alien Girl
4. John Howard - I Tune Into You
5. Ian North - We’re Not Lonely
6. Selwin Image - The Unknown
7. Harry Kakoulli - I’m On A Rocket
8. Rich Wilde - The Lady Wants To Be Alone
9. Billy London - Woman
10. Alan Burnham - Science Fiction
11. The Microbes - Computer
12. The Goo-Q - I’m A Computer
13. Gerry & The Holograms - Gerry & The Holograms
14. The Warlord - The Ultimate Warlord
15. Die Marinas - Fred From Jupiter
16. Dee Jay Bert & Eagle - I Am Your Master
17. Peta Lily & Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb
18. Sole Sister - It’s Not What You Are But How
19. Alasdair Riddell - Do You Read Me?
20. Karel Fialka - Armband (The Mystery Song)
21. John Springate - My Life
22. Incandescent Luminaire - Famous Names
23. Disco Volante - No Motion
24. Dream Unit - A Drop In The Ocean
Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.
All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.
At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.
There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.
The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.
The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
LP - territory: WW- UK/USA/CA/ Benelux
2LP LTD TRANSPARENT PINK VINYL Vinyl w/8pg 12” booklet
TRACKLIST:
1. Design - Premonition
2. Vision - Lucifer’s Friend
3. Richard Bone - Alien Girl
4. John Howard - I Tune Into You
5. Ian North - We’re Not Lonely
6. Selwin Image - The Unknown
7. Harry Kakoulli - I’m On A Rocket
8. Rich Wilde - The Lady Wants To Be Alone
9. Billy London - Woman
10. Alan Burnham - Science Fiction
11. The Microbes - Computer
12. The Goo-Q - I’m A Computer
13. Gerry & The Holograms - Gerry & The Holograms
14. The Warlord - The Ultimate Warlord
15. Die Marinas - Fred From Jupiter
16. Dee Jay Bert & Eagle - I Am Your Master
17. Peta Lily & Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb
18. Sole Sister - It’s Not What You Are But How
19. Alasdair Riddell - Do You Read Me?
20. Karel Fialka - Armband (The Mystery Song)
21. John Springate - My Life
22. Incandescent Luminaire - Famous Names
23. Disco Volante - No Motion
24. Dream Unit - A Drop In The Ocean
Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.
All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.
At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.
There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.
The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.
The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
2LP LTD TRANSPARENT PINK VINYL Vinyl w/8pg 12” booklet
TRACKLIST:
1. Design - Premonition
2. Vision - Lucifer’s Friend
3. Richard Bone - Alien Girl
4. John Howard - I Tune Into You
5. Ian North - We’re Not Lonely
6. Selwin Image - The Unknown
7. Harry Kakoulli - I’m On A Rocket
8. Rich Wilde - The Lady Wants To Be Alone
9. Billy London - Woman
10. Alan Burnham - Science Fiction
11. The Microbes - Computer
12. The Goo-Q - I’m A Computer
13. Gerry & The Holograms - Gerry & The Holograms
14. The Warlord - The Ultimate Warlord
15. Die Marinas - Fred From Jupiter
16. Dee Jay Bert & Eagle - I Am Your Master
17. Peta Lily & Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb
18. Sole Sister - It’s Not What You Are But How
19. Alasdair Riddell - Do You Read Me?
20. Karel Fialka - Armband (The Mystery Song)
21. John Springate - My Life
22. Incandescent Luminaire - Famous Names
23. Disco Volante - No Motion
24. Dream Unit - A Drop In The Ocean
Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.
All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.
At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.
There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.
The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.
The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
LP - territory: WW- UK/USA/CA/ Benelux
2CD w/ 24pg booklet
TRACKLIST:
1. Design - Premonition
2. Vision - Lucifer’s Friend
3. Richard Bone - Alien Girl
4. John Howard - I Tune Into You
5. Ian North - We’re Not Lonely
6. Selwin Image - The Unknown
7. Harry Kakoulli - I’m On A Rocket
8. Rich Wilde - The Lady Wants To Be Alone
9. Billy London - Woman
10. Alan Burnham - Science Fiction
11. The Microbes - Computer
12. The Goo-Q - I’m A Computer
13. Gerry & The Holograms - Gerry & The Holograms
14. The Warlord - The Ultimate Warlord
15. Die Marinas - Fred From Jupiter
16. Dee Jay Bert & Eagle - I Am Your Master
17. Peta Lily & Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb
18. Sole Sister - It’s Not What You Are But How
19. Alasdair Riddell - Do You Read Me?
20. Karel Fialka - Armband (The Mystery Song)
21. John Springate - My Life
22. Incandescent Luminaire - Famous Names
23. Disco Volante - No Motion
24. Dream Unit - A Drop In The Ocean
Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.
All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.
At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.
There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.
The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.
The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
2CD w/ 24pg booklet
TRACKLIST:
1. Design - Premonition
2. Vision - Lucifer’s Friend
3. Richard Bone - Alien Girl
4. John Howard - I Tune Into You
5. Ian North - We’re Not Lonely
6. Selwin Image - The Unknown
7. Harry Kakoulli - I’m On A Rocket
8. Rich Wilde - The Lady Wants To Be Alone
9. Billy London - Woman
10. Alan Burnham - Science Fiction
11. The Microbes - Computer
12. The Goo-Q - I’m A Computer
13. Gerry & The Holograms - Gerry & The Holograms
14. The Warlord - The Ultimate Warlord
15. Die Marinas - Fred From Jupiter
16. Dee Jay Bert & Eagle - I Am Your Master
17. Peta Lily & Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb
18. Sole Sister - It’s Not What You Are But How
19. Alasdair Riddell - Do You Read Me?
20. Karel Fialka - Armband (The Mystery Song)
21. John Springate - My Life
22. Incandescent Luminaire - Famous Names
23. Disco Volante - No Motion
24. Dream Unit - A Drop In The Ocean
Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.
All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.
At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.
There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.
The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.
The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
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LP - territory: WW- UK/USA/CA/ Benelux
2LP Black Vinyl w/8pg 12” booklet
TRACKLIST:
1. Design - Premonition
2. Vision - Lucifer’s Friend
3. Richard Bone - Alien Girl
4. John Howard - I Tune Into You
5. Ian North - We’re Not Lonely
6. Selwin Image - The Unknown
7. Harry Kakoulli - I’m On A Rocket
8. Rich Wilde - The Lady Wants To Be Alone
9. Billy London - Woman
10. Alan Burnham - Science Fiction
11. The Microbes - Computer
12. The Goo-Q - I’m A Computer
13. Gerry & The Holograms - Gerry & The Holograms
14. The Warlord - The Ultimate Warlord
15. Die Marinas - Fred From Jupiter
16. Dee Jay Bert & Eagle - I Am Your Master
17. Peta Lily & Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb
18. Sole Sister - It’s Not What You Are But How
19. Alasdair Riddell - Do You Read Me?
20. Karel Fialka - Armband (The Mystery Song)
21. John Springate - My Life
22. Incandescent Luminaire - Famous Names
23. Disco Volante - No Motion
24. Dream Unit - A Drop In The Ocean
Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.
All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.
At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.
There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.
The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.
The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
2LP Black Vinyl w/8pg 12” booklet
TRACKLIST:
1. Design - Premonition
2. Vision - Lucifer’s Friend
3. Richard Bone - Alien Girl
4. John Howard - I Tune Into You
5. Ian North - We’re Not Lonely
6. Selwin Image - The Unknown
7. Harry Kakoulli - I’m On A Rocket
8. Rich Wilde - The Lady Wants To Be Alone
9. Billy London - Woman
10. Alan Burnham - Science Fiction
11. The Microbes - Computer
12. The Goo-Q - I’m A Computer
13. Gerry & The Holograms - Gerry & The Holograms
14. The Warlord - The Ultimate Warlord
15. Die Marinas - Fred From Jupiter
16. Dee Jay Bert & Eagle - I Am Your Master
17. Peta Lily & Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb
18. Sole Sister - It’s Not What You Are But How
19. Alasdair Riddell - Do You Read Me?
20. Karel Fialka - Armband (The Mystery Song)
21. John Springate - My Life
22. Incandescent Luminaire - Famous Names
23. Disco Volante - No Motion
24. Dream Unit - A Drop In The Ocean
Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.
All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.
At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.
There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.
The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.
The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Molly Nilsson - The Lonely Planet
2
Molly Nilsson - 1995
3
Molly Nilsson - H.O.P.E.
4
Molly Nilsson - Mountain Time
5
Molly Nilsson - Bunny Club
6
Molly Nilsson - Intermezzo: Palimpsest Galore
7
Molly Nilsson - Happyness
8
Molly Nilsson - Lovers Are Losers
9
Molly Nilsson - Clearblue
10
Molly Nilsson - My Body
11
Molly Nilsson - Titanic
12
Molly Nilsson - Bus 194 (All There Is)
13
Molly Nilsson - Tomorrow
Territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX
LP 10th Anniversary - Red Gold Vinyl edition
Tracklist
1.The Lonely Planet
2.1995
3.H.O.P.E.
4.Mountain Time
5.Bunny Club
6.Intermezzo: Palimpsest Galore
7.Happyness
8.Lovers Are Losers
9.Clearblue
10.My Body
11.Titanic
12.Bus 194 (All There Is)
13.Tomorrow
To celebrate Molly Nilsson’s most enduring fan-favourite album to date, Night School and Dark Skies
Association are releasing a limited 10th anniversary pressing on Red-Gold vinyl, limited to 500 copies.
Since its release in late summer of 2015, Zenith has come to be considered Nilsson’s greatest album to date. Now
on its 6th pressing, in 2025 Zenith represents the mid-point in the songwriter’s career to date and contains firm fan
favourites in Mountain Time, Happyness and her most popular song, 1995. Zenith sits square between Nilsson’s
original flurry of DIY creativity and her later, outward-looking political material.
Original sales notes…
“A sweeping, cinematic, emotional change is in the air. Molly Nilsson’s sixth studio album Zenith begins with clear,
wide eyes open to Earth as we would love it to be but seldom is. Recorded in her home of Berlin and whilst touring
and, as ever, conceived, produced, written and recorded in solitude, Zenith is Nilsson’s big statement and
consequently her most affecting work to date. It sees her reveling in big arrangements, sweeping synth strings,
bigger choruses and emotions. Like the rest of us she looks within and to endless sunsets in wonder and
puzzlement.
That Molly Nilsson is a DIY cult figure is beyond question; she has always written directly and with wit straight down
the line between the universal and the personal. The difference with Zenith, and you can hear it in the opening
chords of opener The Only Planet, is that her scope is now much wider and her heart heavier than ever before:
over a post-ecstatic dusk, Nilsson serenades the globe in a loving embrace. Following on, 1995 is, arguably, one of
Nilsson’s finest songs to date. It’s one of those songs to learn the lyrics to, to listen to on repeat, a reason to wear
the grooves down to the bone, it’s why pop music can be one of the greatest art forms we have. It’s an example of
how, on this album, Molly draws the listener closer to her heart than ever before. There’s simply no escape from the
line “The plans that you made / when you still had the time / I’ve saved all the things that you left behind but by now
I guess I’d consider them all mine /Windows 95, is only a metaphor for what I feel inside / Although I’m older now /
there’s still an emptiness that’s never letting go somehow.” Show-stopper Mountain Time is the soundtrack to being
on the run, from societal conventions, from normative ideas of happiness, from your surroundings. It’s the
intoxicating call of the renegade. That’s not to say that Nilsson’s light touch has been forsaken for grandiose
statements. Bunny Club begins as a demo-sketch before breaking into a fast-paced tale of doomed romance with
big rave synths and Bus 194 (All There Is) sees Molly joyride through a city on a happy hardcore bus. But it’s
tracks like Tomorrow and another contender for best-ever-Molly moment, Happyness that the true scale of what
she’s accomplished reveals itself. We’re locked in a spiraling orbit, strings and bass whirling, gazing at the spinning
planet below us as we contemplate both the ultimate freedom in loneliness and the glimmer of hope in the Other.
Can we ever be truly with someone? Are we ever truly alone?
Over the 13 tracks here we get the impression that Nilsson may always be restless; like anyone else she has
conflicting feelings of love and hate. It’s just not many other people can tell you exactly how you feel before you
know it yourself.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
LP 10th Anniversary - Red Gold Vinyl edition
Tracklist
1.The Lonely Planet
2.1995
3.H.O.P.E.
4.Mountain Time
5.Bunny Club
6.Intermezzo: Palimpsest Galore
7.Happyness
8.Lovers Are Losers
9.Clearblue
10.My Body
11.Titanic
12.Bus 194 (All There Is)
13.Tomorrow
To celebrate Molly Nilsson’s most enduring fan-favourite album to date, Night School and Dark Skies
Association are releasing a limited 10th anniversary pressing on Red-Gold vinyl, limited to 500 copies.
Since its release in late summer of 2015, Zenith has come to be considered Nilsson’s greatest album to date. Now
on its 6th pressing, in 2025 Zenith represents the mid-point in the songwriter’s career to date and contains firm fan
favourites in Mountain Time, Happyness and her most popular song, 1995. Zenith sits square between Nilsson’s
original flurry of DIY creativity and her later, outward-looking political material.
Original sales notes…
“A sweeping, cinematic, emotional change is in the air. Molly Nilsson’s sixth studio album Zenith begins with clear,
wide eyes open to Earth as we would love it to be but seldom is. Recorded in her home of Berlin and whilst touring
and, as ever, conceived, produced, written and recorded in solitude, Zenith is Nilsson’s big statement and
consequently her most affecting work to date. It sees her reveling in big arrangements, sweeping synth strings,
bigger choruses and emotions. Like the rest of us she looks within and to endless sunsets in wonder and
puzzlement.
That Molly Nilsson is a DIY cult figure is beyond question; she has always written directly and with wit straight down
the line between the universal and the personal. The difference with Zenith, and you can hear it in the opening
chords of opener The Only Planet, is that her scope is now much wider and her heart heavier than ever before:
over a post-ecstatic dusk, Nilsson serenades the globe in a loving embrace. Following on, 1995 is, arguably, one of
Nilsson’s finest songs to date. It’s one of those songs to learn the lyrics to, to listen to on repeat, a reason to wear
the grooves down to the bone, it’s why pop music can be one of the greatest art forms we have. It’s an example of
how, on this album, Molly draws the listener closer to her heart than ever before. There’s simply no escape from the
line “The plans that you made / when you still had the time / I’ve saved all the things that you left behind but by now
I guess I’d consider them all mine /Windows 95, is only a metaphor for what I feel inside / Although I’m older now /
there’s still an emptiness that’s never letting go somehow.” Show-stopper Mountain Time is the soundtrack to being
on the run, from societal conventions, from normative ideas of happiness, from your surroundings. It’s the
intoxicating call of the renegade. That’s not to say that Nilsson’s light touch has been forsaken for grandiose
statements. Bunny Club begins as a demo-sketch before breaking into a fast-paced tale of doomed romance with
big rave synths and Bus 194 (All There Is) sees Molly joyride through a city on a happy hardcore bus. But it’s
tracks like Tomorrow and another contender for best-ever-Molly moment, Happyness that the true scale of what
she’s accomplished reveals itself. We’re locked in a spiraling orbit, strings and bass whirling, gazing at the spinning
planet below us as we contemplate both the ultimate freedom in loneliness and the glimmer of hope in the Other.
Can we ever be truly with someone? Are we ever truly alone?
Over the 13 tracks here we get the impression that Nilsson may always be restless; like anyone else she has
conflicting feelings of love and hate. It’s just not many other people can tell you exactly how you feel before you
know it yourself.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Strawberry Switchblade - SIDE A: Spanish Song
2
Strawberry Switchblade - SIDE AA: Trees & Flowers
3
Strawberry Switchblade - SIDE AA: Go Away
Territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX
FORMAT: 7” LTD Black Vinyl (700) + Booklet
Tracklist:
SIDE A: Spanish Song
SIDE AA: Trees & Flowers / Go Away
2025 Repress.
Originally released in limited formats in 2017 and having since been repressed several times, 2025 sees
a new pressing to acknowledge the enduring legacy of this recording. In 2024, the song Trees & Flowers
became an unexpected hit on Tik Tok and introduced a new generation to these timeless songs.
“1982 4-Piece Demo” is the first official, fully-licensed and unreleased material to be released under the name
Strawberry Switchblade in 30 years. Since disbanding amid major record label acrimony and personal differences
in 1986, the already-cult band have since grown in stature and legend. Trailblazers in many ways, the band’s
mythology justifiably centers around the charismatic duo of Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall, but that isn’t a
complete picture.
Bryson and McDowall’s growing friendship, having met some years earlier on the punk scene, became a creative
partnership: Bryson’s art school background and McDowall’s history in avant-punk group The Poets meant
Strawberry Switchblade was a band pitted against many established norms. The band’s very first incarnation,
an all-female 4 piece, recorded one demo at Glasgow’s Hellfire Club and played a handful of gigs. Friends
Janice Goodlett and Carole McGowan completed the line up on bass and drums respectively. Strawberry
Switchblade would eventually pair down to a duo and go on to chart success but it’s in these raw, passionate
recordings that the songwriting and vocal elements were being hammered out and explored in real time.
“Spanish Song” is a previously unreleased song. With Rose McDowall’s instantly recognizable lead vocal
dovetailing with Bryson’s harmonies and lead guitar, it’s the first glimpse at an alternative history of Strawberry
Switchblade. This incarnation could easily have been featured on a Nuggets compilation or a precursor to the indiepop revolution that would take over British bedrooms a couple of years later. Trees & Flowers is instantly
recognizable, a bona fide classic that would earn the band its first record deal. Here it’s given a more forceful rhythm
section: Goodlett and McGowan’s playing is in fact accomplished and doesn’t hint at the bands’ youth. Go Away
would also surface later on the band’s debut LP but here it is a moody-garage stomper with a psychedelic, haunting
refrain.
These 3 songs point to a tantalizing future of the band that was never realized.
Remastered and restored by Sean Pennycook from the original cassette, with artwork based on a single
photographic contact sheet (the only visual evidence of the band in this form) and with a booklet of photographs and
new text from contemporary Stephen Pastel.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
FORMAT: 7” LTD Black Vinyl (700) + Booklet
Tracklist:
SIDE A: Spanish Song
SIDE AA: Trees & Flowers / Go Away
2025 Repress.
Originally released in limited formats in 2017 and having since been repressed several times, 2025 sees
a new pressing to acknowledge the enduring legacy of this recording. In 2024, the song Trees & Flowers
became an unexpected hit on Tik Tok and introduced a new generation to these timeless songs.
“1982 4-Piece Demo” is the first official, fully-licensed and unreleased material to be released under the name
Strawberry Switchblade in 30 years. Since disbanding amid major record label acrimony and personal differences
in 1986, the already-cult band have since grown in stature and legend. Trailblazers in many ways, the band’s
mythology justifiably centers around the charismatic duo of Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall, but that isn’t a
complete picture.
Bryson and McDowall’s growing friendship, having met some years earlier on the punk scene, became a creative
partnership: Bryson’s art school background and McDowall’s history in avant-punk group The Poets meant
Strawberry Switchblade was a band pitted against many established norms. The band’s very first incarnation,
an all-female 4 piece, recorded one demo at Glasgow’s Hellfire Club and played a handful of gigs. Friends
Janice Goodlett and Carole McGowan completed the line up on bass and drums respectively. Strawberry
Switchblade would eventually pair down to a duo and go on to chart success but it’s in these raw, passionate
recordings that the songwriting and vocal elements were being hammered out and explored in real time.
“Spanish Song” is a previously unreleased song. With Rose McDowall’s instantly recognizable lead vocal
dovetailing with Bryson’s harmonies and lead guitar, it’s the first glimpse at an alternative history of Strawberry
Switchblade. This incarnation could easily have been featured on a Nuggets compilation or a precursor to the indiepop revolution that would take over British bedrooms a couple of years later. Trees & Flowers is instantly
recognizable, a bona fide classic that would earn the band its first record deal. Here it’s given a more forceful rhythm
section: Goodlett and McGowan’s playing is in fact accomplished and doesn’t hint at the bands’ youth. Go Away
would also surface later on the band’s debut LP but here it is a moody-garage stomper with a psychedelic, haunting
refrain.
These 3 songs point to a tantalizing future of the band that was never realized.
Remastered and restored by Sean Pennycook from the original cassette, with artwork based on a single
photographic contact sheet (the only visual evidence of the band in this form) and with a booklet of photographs and
new text from contemporary Stephen Pastel.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Strawberry Switchblade - SIDE A: Spanish Song
2
Strawberry Switchblade - SIDE AA: Trees & Flowers
3
Strawberry Switchblade - SIDE AA: Go Away
Territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX
FORMAT: 7” LTD Coke Bottle Clear Vinyl (300) + Booklet
Tracklist:
SIDE A: Spanish Song
SIDE AA: Trees & Flowers / Go Away
2025 Repress.
Originally released in limited formats in 2017 and having since been repressed several times, 2025 sees
a new pressing to acknowledge the enduring legacy of this recording. In 2024, the song Trees & Flowers
became an unexpected hit on Tik Tok and introduced a new generation to these timeless songs.
“1982 4-Piece Demo” is the first official, fully-licensed and unreleased material to be released under the name
Strawberry Switchblade in 30 years. Since disbanding amid major record label acrimony and personal differences
in 1986, the already-cult band have since grown in stature and legend. Trailblazers in many ways, the band’s
mythology justifiably centers around the charismatic duo of Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall, but that isn’t a
complete picture.
Bryson and McDowall’s growing friendship, having met some years earlier on the punk scene, became a creative
partnership: Bryson’s art school background and McDowall’s history in avant-punk group The Poets meant
Strawberry Switchblade was a band pitted against many established norms. The band’s very first incarnation,
an all-female 4 piece, recorded one demo at Glasgow’s Hellfire Club and played a handful of gigs. Friends
Janice Goodlett and Carole McGowan completed the line up on bass and drums respectively. Strawberry
Switchblade would eventually pair down to a duo and go on to chart success but it’s in these raw, passionate
recordings that the songwriting and vocal elements were being hammered out and explored in real time.
“Spanish Song” is a previously unreleased song. With Rose McDowall’s instantly recognizable lead vocal
dovetailing with Bryson’s harmonies and lead guitar, it’s the first glimpse at an alternative history of Strawberry
Switchblade. This incarnation could easily have been featured on a Nuggets compilation or a precursor to the indiepop revolution that would take over British bedrooms a couple of years later. Trees & Flowers is instantly
recognizable, a bona fide classic that would earn the band its first record deal. Here it’s given a more forceful rhythm
section: Goodlett and McGowan’s playing is in fact accomplished and doesn’t hint at the bands’ youth. Go Away
would also surface later on the band’s debut LP but here it is a moody-garage stomper with a psychedelic, haunting
refrain.
These 3 songs point to a tantalizing future of the band that was never realized.
Remastered and restored by Sean Pennycook from the original cassette, with artwork based on a single
photographic contact sheet (the only visual evidence of the band in this form) and with a booklet of photographs and
new text from contemporary Stephen Pastel.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
FORMAT: 7” LTD Coke Bottle Clear Vinyl (300) + Booklet
Tracklist:
SIDE A: Spanish Song
SIDE AA: Trees & Flowers / Go Away
2025 Repress.
Originally released in limited formats in 2017 and having since been repressed several times, 2025 sees
a new pressing to acknowledge the enduring legacy of this recording. In 2024, the song Trees & Flowers
became an unexpected hit on Tik Tok and introduced a new generation to these timeless songs.
“1982 4-Piece Demo” is the first official, fully-licensed and unreleased material to be released under the name
Strawberry Switchblade in 30 years. Since disbanding amid major record label acrimony and personal differences
in 1986, the already-cult band have since grown in stature and legend. Trailblazers in many ways, the band’s
mythology justifiably centers around the charismatic duo of Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall, but that isn’t a
complete picture.
Bryson and McDowall’s growing friendship, having met some years earlier on the punk scene, became a creative
partnership: Bryson’s art school background and McDowall’s history in avant-punk group The Poets meant
Strawberry Switchblade was a band pitted against many established norms. The band’s very first incarnation,
an all-female 4 piece, recorded one demo at Glasgow’s Hellfire Club and played a handful of gigs. Friends
Janice Goodlett and Carole McGowan completed the line up on bass and drums respectively. Strawberry
Switchblade would eventually pair down to a duo and go on to chart success but it’s in these raw, passionate
recordings that the songwriting and vocal elements were being hammered out and explored in real time.
“Spanish Song” is a previously unreleased song. With Rose McDowall’s instantly recognizable lead vocal
dovetailing with Bryson’s harmonies and lead guitar, it’s the first glimpse at an alternative history of Strawberry
Switchblade. This incarnation could easily have been featured on a Nuggets compilation or a precursor to the indiepop revolution that would take over British bedrooms a couple of years later. Trees & Flowers is instantly
recognizable, a bona fide classic that would earn the band its first record deal. Here it’s given a more forceful rhythm
section: Goodlett and McGowan’s playing is in fact accomplished and doesn’t hint at the bands’ youth. Go Away
would also surface later on the band’s debut LP but here it is a moody-garage stomper with a psychedelic, haunting
refrain.
These 3 songs point to a tantalizing future of the band that was never realized.
Remastered and restored by Sean Pennycook from the original cassette, with artwork based on a single
photographic contact sheet (the only visual evidence of the band in this form) and with a booklet of photographs and
new text from contemporary Stephen Pastel.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Mope Grooves - No Title
2
Mope Grooves - No Title
3
Mope Grooves - No Title
4
Mope Grooves - No Title
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Mope Grooves - No Title
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Mope Grooves - No Title
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Mope Grooves - No Title
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Mope Grooves - No Title
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Mope Grooves - No Title
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Mope Grooves - No Title
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Mope Grooves - No Title
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Mope Grooves - No Title
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Mope Grooves - No Title
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Mope Grooves - No Title
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Mope Grooves - No Title
2LP, LTD 500 , Black Vinyl -- Territories: WW-US,CA,UK,FR,BENELUX
The final album from stevie’s Mope Grooves,
the seminal Portland collective. A 2 hour, 27
track masterpiece of touching, warped music
that transcends genre into a realm of pure
inspiration.
All profits from this release will be donated to
Survived and Punished charity.
Tracklist:
1.Controlled Burn
2.Aileen
3.Pieces Of God
4.Forever Is A Long Time 03:19
5.Do You Hear Music
6.Home Sick
7.We Won
8.Swail
9.Here Comes The Moon
10.Hallway Of Crucified Angels
11.Fox Highway
12.Harp Circles
13.Wind Follows Me Home
14.Cap Hits The Button
15.Si Fuese Violeta
16.Wall Of Swords
17.Switch Cars
18.Continue & Intensify
19.Les Anges Passent
20.Here Comes The Rain
21.Turning Fire
22.Simple As That
23.Life Is Good
24.Dora
25.Isn't It Hard
26.Tired All The Time
27.Box Of Dark Roses
Through the fog of our grief in the wake of the earth-shattering loss of our beloved angel Stevie, on this
day which would have been her 35th birthday, we announce the release of Mope Groove’s final album; Box
of Dark Roses. A 27 song, 2XLP of songs that Stevie prepared for release before she left. In addition to the
music, Stevie provided extensive liner notes to accompany the album. These are included with the album in
the form of a zine, or as a digital PDF, respectively.
"If i'm ever hard to get a hold of u can find my whole heart in here."
-Stevie (from her liner notes)
Rest in peace sweet angel. We love you forever.
Stevie provided the following statement on the album before her departure:
"all artist profits and digital proceeds will be redistributed in perpetuity to incarcerated or formerly
incarcerated survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, especially the many women and other
gender marginalized ppl incarcerated for defending themselves against their attackers. funds will be
allocated to the Survived and Punished NY Mutual Aid Fund, a comparable organization, or directly into
commissary funds or fundraisers of incarcerated survivors.
"box of dark roses is a 27 song LP where the same images repeat and repeat until you might have some
idea of what roses have to do with armed struggle, trans autonomy, losing your house (again), angels,
women political prisoners, violence returned to sender, suicided poets, refusing to recant, insisting on life,
& how the revenge of twenty billion screaming ghost women could unmake the worst of all possible
worlds”
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
The final album from stevie’s Mope Grooves,
the seminal Portland collective. A 2 hour, 27
track masterpiece of touching, warped music
that transcends genre into a realm of pure
inspiration.
All profits from this release will be donated to
Survived and Punished charity.
Tracklist:
1.Controlled Burn
2.Aileen
3.Pieces Of God
4.Forever Is A Long Time 03:19
5.Do You Hear Music
6.Home Sick
7.We Won
8.Swail
9.Here Comes The Moon
10.Hallway Of Crucified Angels
11.Fox Highway
12.Harp Circles
13.Wind Follows Me Home
14.Cap Hits The Button
15.Si Fuese Violeta
16.Wall Of Swords
17.Switch Cars
18.Continue & Intensify
19.Les Anges Passent
20.Here Comes The Rain
21.Turning Fire
22.Simple As That
23.Life Is Good
24.Dora
25.Isn't It Hard
26.Tired All The Time
27.Box Of Dark Roses
Through the fog of our grief in the wake of the earth-shattering loss of our beloved angel Stevie, on this
day which would have been her 35th birthday, we announce the release of Mope Groove’s final album; Box
of Dark Roses. A 27 song, 2XLP of songs that Stevie prepared for release before she left. In addition to the
music, Stevie provided extensive liner notes to accompany the album. These are included with the album in
the form of a zine, or as a digital PDF, respectively.
"If i'm ever hard to get a hold of u can find my whole heart in here."
-Stevie (from her liner notes)
Rest in peace sweet angel. We love you forever.
Stevie provided the following statement on the album before her departure:
"all artist profits and digital proceeds will be redistributed in perpetuity to incarcerated or formerly
incarcerated survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, especially the many women and other
gender marginalized ppl incarcerated for defending themselves against their attackers. funds will be
allocated to the Survived and Punished NY Mutual Aid Fund, a comparable organization, or directly into
commissary funds or fundraisers of incarcerated survivors.
"box of dark roses is a 27 song LP where the same images repeat and repeat until you might have some
idea of what roses have to do with armed struggle, trans autonomy, losing your house (again), angels,
women political prisoners, violence returned to sender, suicided poets, refusing to recant, insisting on life,
& how the revenge of twenty billion screaming ghost women could unmake the worst of all possible
worlds”
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Tristwch y Fenywod - 1. Blodyn Gwynedd
2
Tristwch y Fenywod - 2. Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du
3
Tristwch y Fenywod - 3. Y Trawsnewidiad
4
Tristwch y Fenywod - 4. Llwydwyrdd
5
Tristwch y Fenywod - 5. Byd Mewn Cysgod
6
Tristwch y Fenywod - 6. Gelain Görs
7
Tristwch y Fenywod - 7. Awen
8
Tristwch y Fenywod - 8. ‘Nes I Ddawnsio Efo’r Lleuad
territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX
Black Vinyl LP, 2025 REPRESS
Tracklist
1. Blodyn Gwynedd
2. Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du
3. Y Trawsnewidiad
4. Llwydwyrdd
5. Byd Mewn Cysgod
6. Gelain Görs
7. Awen
8. ‘Nes I Ddawnsio Efo’r Lleuad
Singing black-lit liturgies of bog bodies caked in mud, entranced by nocturnal landscapes flickering in the moonglow and powered by queer enchantment, Tristwch y Fenywod are a Welsh-language gothic avant-rock powercoven. Exhumed from the depths of Leeds’ experimental underground, the trio consist of Gwretsien Ferch
Lisbeth (Guttersnipe, The Ephemeron Loop), Leila Lygad (Hawthonn) and Sidni Sarffwraig (Slaylor Moon, The
Courtneys).
Stark, striking and bewitching, Tristwch y Fenywod’s self-titled album is their debut studio recording, following just
10 gigs and a live demo. Formed in 2022, Tristwch y Fenywod ("The Sadness of Women”) record exclusively in the
Welsh language, conjuring an eldritch, subterranean, alien folk music played on dual zither, electronic drums and
bass guitar. With towering, siren-like vocals curling around the Welsh consonants, accompanied by stark, martial
rhythms and swirling claw-plucked strings, Tristwch y Fenywod feels like an early 4AD recording dredged from the
waters of an Anglesey swamp. The effect is simultaneously chilling and stirring.
The eight tracks on the record constitute what feels like a recently rediscovered, unholy grail of edgy, atmospheric,
occult feminist goth emissions. Gwretsien’s dual-zither playing scatters melodic fragments and spirals of harmony
around the decimated space opened up by the lugubrious bass playing and pounding, brooding drum pads.
Coupled with the Welsh vocal, Tristwch y Fenywod embody a new, unique Celtic darkwave sound, equal parts
Pornography-era The Cure, Svitlana Nianio’s haunted hammered string-work and the dark beauty of Dead Can
Dance or This Mortal Coil. Opener Blodyn Gwyrdd feels like the last ride of Princess Ukok, with lumbering bass
and 6/8 rhythms in procession to the event horizon with an entreating, impassioned vocal and surprising lyrical
theme. The doomed dancing of the zither provides the mysterious melodic bedrock throughout the album,
particularly on Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du’s heavy funereal sway and the slowly building, paroxysmal banshee
breakdown of Awen: an astonishing swell of thrilling chaos.
The album was recorded and produced by Ross Halden and the band at Hohm Studio, Bradford, Summer 2023.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Black Vinyl LP, 2025 REPRESS
Tracklist
1. Blodyn Gwynedd
2. Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du
3. Y Trawsnewidiad
4. Llwydwyrdd
5. Byd Mewn Cysgod
6. Gelain Görs
7. Awen
8. ‘Nes I Ddawnsio Efo’r Lleuad
Singing black-lit liturgies of bog bodies caked in mud, entranced by nocturnal landscapes flickering in the moonglow and powered by queer enchantment, Tristwch y Fenywod are a Welsh-language gothic avant-rock powercoven. Exhumed from the depths of Leeds’ experimental underground, the trio consist of Gwretsien Ferch
Lisbeth (Guttersnipe, The Ephemeron Loop), Leila Lygad (Hawthonn) and Sidni Sarffwraig (Slaylor Moon, The
Courtneys).
Stark, striking and bewitching, Tristwch y Fenywod’s self-titled album is their debut studio recording, following just
10 gigs and a live demo. Formed in 2022, Tristwch y Fenywod ("The Sadness of Women”) record exclusively in the
Welsh language, conjuring an eldritch, subterranean, alien folk music played on dual zither, electronic drums and
bass guitar. With towering, siren-like vocals curling around the Welsh consonants, accompanied by stark, martial
rhythms and swirling claw-plucked strings, Tristwch y Fenywod feels like an early 4AD recording dredged from the
waters of an Anglesey swamp. The effect is simultaneously chilling and stirring.
The eight tracks on the record constitute what feels like a recently rediscovered, unholy grail of edgy, atmospheric,
occult feminist goth emissions. Gwretsien’s dual-zither playing scatters melodic fragments and spirals of harmony
around the decimated space opened up by the lugubrious bass playing and pounding, brooding drum pads.
Coupled with the Welsh vocal, Tristwch y Fenywod embody a new, unique Celtic darkwave sound, equal parts
Pornography-era The Cure, Svitlana Nianio’s haunted hammered string-work and the dark beauty of Dead Can
Dance or This Mortal Coil. Opener Blodyn Gwyrdd feels like the last ride of Princess Ukok, with lumbering bass
and 6/8 rhythms in procession to the event horizon with an entreating, impassioned vocal and surprising lyrical
theme. The doomed dancing of the zither provides the mysterious melodic bedrock throughout the album,
particularly on Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du’s heavy funereal sway and the slowly building, paroxysmal banshee
breakdown of Awen: an astonishing swell of thrilling chaos.
The album was recorded and produced by Ross Halden and the band at Hohm Studio, Bradford, Summer 2023.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Yuching Huang - 1. Fly! Little Black Thing
2
Yuching Huang - 2. Love
3
Yuching Huang - 3. Confessions From A Soul
4
Yuching Huang - 4. Thoughts
5
Yuching Huang - 5. Thunder In Heaven
6
Yuching Huang - 6. In My Room
7
Yuching Huang - 7. The Song Of Summer
8
Yuching Huang - 8. JohnJohn
9
Yuching Huang - 9. Alright
10
Yuching Huang - 10. You, An Illusion
LP - The Crystal Hum is the debut vinyl release by Taiwan-based artist Yuching Huang and her first release for Night School.
1. Fly! Little Black Thing
2. Love
3. Confessions From A Soul
4. Thoughts
5. Thunder In Heaven
6. In My Room
7. The Song Of Summer
8. JohnJohn
9. Alright
10. You, An Illusion
The Crystal Hum is the debut vinyl release by Taiwan-based artist Yuching Huang and her first release for Night School.
A beguiling dreamscape of crackles, spluttering, love-struck Casios presided over by the the spectral vocal and guitar
work of Huang, Yuching sings love songs at the end of this world and the beginning of the next. Recorded during a
hiatus from her group Aemong (a duo with artist Henrique Uba) in Berlin, these songs elevate Huang’s unique vocal
style and grasp of atmospherics. The Crystal Hum deconstructs balladry, Garage, guitar music and reforms it into a
unified ghostly otherworld version of these languages.
The Crystal Hum thrums with buried desire, trails of nocturnal reverb seeping out of apartment windows, diaristic vocal
performances and deeply emotive, evocative Western-style strings. Formulated by Yuching Huang after periods of frustration
and experimentation, the album is an exercise in minimalism and paring back, with some tracks like JohnJohn featuring little
else than an elastic bass, spring reverb trails, an interjecting vocal and swelling, dislocated synths. The effect is spellbinding,
the soundtrack to getting lost in the labyrinthine, closed streets of Venice, Taipei, Hong Kong, or mirror versions of them in the
imagination.
On opener Fly! Little Black Thing, a subterranean funk bassline roots Huang’s singing, a rudimentary, unreliable beat
floundering in whimsy underneath. Demure, dream Dance music, Huang references classic lo fi experimenters Suicide and
Arthur Russell as well as Night School label mates The Space Lady and Ela Orleans. In fact, after the release of Aemong’s
third album Crimson, Huang credits the direction of The Crystal Hum to being enchanted by The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits,
the landmark lo-fi recording made by Susan Dietrich Schneider in 1990. The new, minimalist approach to her sound world
reveals and shrouds in equal measure. On the heart-melter Love, a sultry mid-tempo Casio + bass backing drops into the ether
with Huang’s vocal swimming in preternatural void before emerging anew, in awe at the world. Every chord change heralds new
perspectives, every guitar flurry swells and drips emotion, nothing is wasted and space billows out from between the grooves.
Huang never reveals more than necessary, making this an in-between love album: the right amount of mystery and darkened
mirror shines wanely on The Crystal Hum while remaining fragile and vulnerable in the sweet spots. Turning over in pillowing
smoke and night in the dark corners, Huang sings in both Mandarin and English. The songs speak of earthly matters seemingly
at the edge of dissipating into nothing. Distorted, beguiling Sambas warble like sweating dancehalls in an imagined Lynchian
60s, as on Thoughts. Closer You, An Illusion warps a classic 60s Girlgroup bassline beloved of the likes of Les Rallizes
Denudes into a slight ballad on the edge of the void, held back by the teary-eyed, wistful and enveloping vocal cooed by
Huang. Each song feels like a love song dedicated to the bits between worlds, between beats, the negative space between
people where desires, feelings and loss hangs in the air, resolute and unresolved.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1. Fly! Little Black Thing
2. Love
3. Confessions From A Soul
4. Thoughts
5. Thunder In Heaven
6. In My Room
7. The Song Of Summer
8. JohnJohn
9. Alright
10. You, An Illusion
The Crystal Hum is the debut vinyl release by Taiwan-based artist Yuching Huang and her first release for Night School.
A beguiling dreamscape of crackles, spluttering, love-struck Casios presided over by the the spectral vocal and guitar
work of Huang, Yuching sings love songs at the end of this world and the beginning of the next. Recorded during a
hiatus from her group Aemong (a duo with artist Henrique Uba) in Berlin, these songs elevate Huang’s unique vocal
style and grasp of atmospherics. The Crystal Hum deconstructs balladry, Garage, guitar music and reforms it into a
unified ghostly otherworld version of these languages.
The Crystal Hum thrums with buried desire, trails of nocturnal reverb seeping out of apartment windows, diaristic vocal
performances and deeply emotive, evocative Western-style strings. Formulated by Yuching Huang after periods of frustration
and experimentation, the album is an exercise in minimalism and paring back, with some tracks like JohnJohn featuring little
else than an elastic bass, spring reverb trails, an interjecting vocal and swelling, dislocated synths. The effect is spellbinding,
the soundtrack to getting lost in the labyrinthine, closed streets of Venice, Taipei, Hong Kong, or mirror versions of them in the
imagination.
On opener Fly! Little Black Thing, a subterranean funk bassline roots Huang’s singing, a rudimentary, unreliable beat
floundering in whimsy underneath. Demure, dream Dance music, Huang references classic lo fi experimenters Suicide and
Arthur Russell as well as Night School label mates The Space Lady and Ela Orleans. In fact, after the release of Aemong’s
third album Crimson, Huang credits the direction of The Crystal Hum to being enchanted by The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits,
the landmark lo-fi recording made by Susan Dietrich Schneider in 1990. The new, minimalist approach to her sound world
reveals and shrouds in equal measure. On the heart-melter Love, a sultry mid-tempo Casio + bass backing drops into the ether
with Huang’s vocal swimming in preternatural void before emerging anew, in awe at the world. Every chord change heralds new
perspectives, every guitar flurry swells and drips emotion, nothing is wasted and space billows out from between the grooves.
Huang never reveals more than necessary, making this an in-between love album: the right amount of mystery and darkened
mirror shines wanely on The Crystal Hum while remaining fragile and vulnerable in the sweet spots. Turning over in pillowing
smoke and night in the dark corners, Huang sings in both Mandarin and English. The songs speak of earthly matters seemingly
at the edge of dissipating into nothing. Distorted, beguiling Sambas warble like sweating dancehalls in an imagined Lynchian
60s, as on Thoughts. Closer You, An Illusion warps a classic 60s Girlgroup bassline beloved of the likes of Les Rallizes
Denudes into a slight ballad on the edge of the void, held back by the teary-eyed, wistful and enveloping vocal cooed by
Huang. Each song feels like a love song dedicated to the bits between worlds, between beats, the negative space between
people where desires, feelings and loss hangs in the air, resolute and unresolved.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Sorrow - No Title
2
Sorrow - No Title
3
Sorrow - No Title
4
Sorrow - No Title
5
Sorrow - No Title
6
Sorrow - No Title
7
Sorrow - No Title
8
Sorrow - No Title
9
Sorrow - No Title
10
Sorrow - No Title
11
Sorrow - No Title
CD 20 page booklet / O-Card / 500 only - Territories: WW-US,UK
Limited to 500 only.
Available on CD for the first time in 25 years!
1. Soldier
2. Love Dies
3. Turn Off The Light
4. Haunting
5. Fear Becomes You
6. October Faul
7. Wishing Stone
8. Nomadic Man
9. Epiphany
10. Angel
11. Sleep Now Forever
Sleep Now Forever is the second and final album released by Sorrow, the post-Strawberry Switchblade group fronted
by singer Rose McDowall. Originally released in 1999 and long since deleted it is a cornucopia of pastoral, elegiac folk
music, swirling atmospherics, hymnal compositions and above it all the alternating towering and fragile vocal
performances of McDowall. Recorded in the late 90s with fellow band member and co-songwriter Robert Lee, Sleep
Now Forever is the definitive statement by the now defunct group and Rose McDowall’s most complete long-form work
to date.
Released through the group’s own Piski Disk Records, Sleep Now Forever was distributed by World Serpent which
struggled through the early 2000s with financial woes, eventually folding due to bankruptcy in 2004. Due to the company’s
troubles, Sleep Now Forever was never distributed widely and was a victim of the company’s failure. Released on CD only,
original copies are now rare and only traded on second hand channels. Remastered by Mikey Young for a limited vinyl release,
Sleep Now Forever will be released on April 20th on double vinyl format, with one side an exclusive etching by Glasgow artist
Holly Allan.
Despite its rarity, Sleep Now Forever enjoys a firm cult following. The album’s textures are expansive, lush, deliciously detailed
and celestial. Recorded in home study Velvet Hole by Rose McDowall and then-husband Robert Lee, the album enlists an
array of players from the underground Neo-folk / industrial scene: Nigel McKernaghan (Uilleann pipes, Whistles), Susan
Franknel (Bassoon), John Contreras (Cello) and Lawrence Frankel (Oboe, Cor Anglais). The eleven songs here revolve
around McDowall’s instantly recognisable voice. Brought up singing in the Catholic Church, McDowall’s vocals are impeccable
and angelic, particularly on tracks like Turn Off The Light where her experiences with religion are canted over soaring oboe
and guitar backing. By far the most evolved and realised version of Sorrow’s vision, it feels somewhat criminal that music this
beautiful could be lost to time until now.
McDowall’s lyrics throughout Sleep Now Forever deal frankly with mental health, depression, altered states, death and
redemption. Wave upon wave of harmony drench each song, McDowal’s vocal multi-tracked and imperious. Opener Soldier
benefits from Robert Lee’s use of the studio as instrument, summoning forth a lilting group performance of sparkling guitar and
percussion that recalls the Velvet Underground. Mikey Love’s master treats the compositions to brand new frequency
dynamics and space. Harmonium and string drones form the counter to McDowall’s vocal on Love Dies, a slow, lurching
lament that feels transcendent. On Haunting, the arrangement is orchestral and aching, bleeding into Fear Becomes You, with
chord and harmony structure that recalls the baroque sixties pop of West Coast Pop Experimental Art Band or the 60s
psychedelic folk movement. A towering, beautiful statement, this elegy for times lost and moonlit-illumination is finally
resurfacing from the darkness.
Sleep Now Forever is being released on 2LP on April 20th, 2024. Limited to 500.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Limited to 500 only.
Available on CD for the first time in 25 years!
1. Soldier
2. Love Dies
3. Turn Off The Light
4. Haunting
5. Fear Becomes You
6. October Faul
7. Wishing Stone
8. Nomadic Man
9. Epiphany
10. Angel
11. Sleep Now Forever
Sleep Now Forever is the second and final album released by Sorrow, the post-Strawberry Switchblade group fronted
by singer Rose McDowall. Originally released in 1999 and long since deleted it is a cornucopia of pastoral, elegiac folk
music, swirling atmospherics, hymnal compositions and above it all the alternating towering and fragile vocal
performances of McDowall. Recorded in the late 90s with fellow band member and co-songwriter Robert Lee, Sleep
Now Forever is the definitive statement by the now defunct group and Rose McDowall’s most complete long-form work
to date.
Released through the group’s own Piski Disk Records, Sleep Now Forever was distributed by World Serpent which
struggled through the early 2000s with financial woes, eventually folding due to bankruptcy in 2004. Due to the company’s
troubles, Sleep Now Forever was never distributed widely and was a victim of the company’s failure. Released on CD only,
original copies are now rare and only traded on second hand channels. Remastered by Mikey Young for a limited vinyl release,
Sleep Now Forever will be released on April 20th on double vinyl format, with one side an exclusive etching by Glasgow artist
Holly Allan.
Despite its rarity, Sleep Now Forever enjoys a firm cult following. The album’s textures are expansive, lush, deliciously detailed
and celestial. Recorded in home study Velvet Hole by Rose McDowall and then-husband Robert Lee, the album enlists an
array of players from the underground Neo-folk / industrial scene: Nigel McKernaghan (Uilleann pipes, Whistles), Susan
Franknel (Bassoon), John Contreras (Cello) and Lawrence Frankel (Oboe, Cor Anglais). The eleven songs here revolve
around McDowall’s instantly recognisable voice. Brought up singing in the Catholic Church, McDowall’s vocals are impeccable
and angelic, particularly on tracks like Turn Off The Light where her experiences with religion are canted over soaring oboe
and guitar backing. By far the most evolved and realised version of Sorrow’s vision, it feels somewhat criminal that music this
beautiful could be lost to time until now.
McDowall’s lyrics throughout Sleep Now Forever deal frankly with mental health, depression, altered states, death and
redemption. Wave upon wave of harmony drench each song, McDowal’s vocal multi-tracked and imperious. Opener Soldier
benefits from Robert Lee’s use of the studio as instrument, summoning forth a lilting group performance of sparkling guitar and
percussion that recalls the Velvet Underground. Mikey Love’s master treats the compositions to brand new frequency
dynamics and space. Harmonium and string drones form the counter to McDowall’s vocal on Love Dies, a slow, lurching
lament that feels transcendent. On Haunting, the arrangement is orchestral and aching, bleeding into Fear Becomes You, with
chord and harmony structure that recalls the baroque sixties pop of West Coast Pop Experimental Art Band or the 60s
psychedelic folk movement. A towering, beautiful statement, this elegy for times lost and moonlit-illumination is finally
resurfacing from the darkness.
Sleep Now Forever is being released on 2LP on April 20th, 2024. Limited to 500.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
territories:WW-US,CA,UK, BENELUX
CD
Tracklist
1. Blodyn Gwynedd
2. Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du
3. Y Trawsnewidiad
4. Llwydwyrdd
5. Byd Mewn Cysgod
6. Gelain Görs
7. Awen
8. ‘Nes I Ddawnsio Efo’r Lleuad
Singing black-lit liturgies of bog bodies caked in mud, entranced by nocturnal landscapes flickering in the moonglow and powered by queer enchantment, Tristwch y Fenywod are a Welsh-language gothic avant-rock powercoven. Exhumed from the depths of Leeds’ experimental underground, the trio consist of Gwretsien Ferch
Lisbeth (Guttersnipe, The Ephemeron Loop), Leila Lygad (Hawthonn) and Sidni Sarffwraig (Slaylor Moon, The
Courtneys).
Stark, striking and bewitching, Tristwch y Fenywod’s self-titled album is their debut studio recording, following just
10 gigs and a live demo. Formed in 2022, Tristwch y Fenywod ("The Sadness of Women”) record exclusively in the
Welsh language, conjuring an eldritch, subterranean, alien folk music played on dual zither, electronic drums and
bass guitar. With towering, siren-like vocals curling around the Welsh consonants, accompanied by stark, martial
rhythms and swirling claw-plucked strings, Tristwch y Fenywod feels like an early 4AD recording dredged from the
waters of an Anglesey swamp. The effect is simultaneously chilling and stirring.
The eight tracks on the record constitute what feels like a recently rediscovered, unholy grail of edgy, atmospheric,
occult feminist goth emissions. Gwretsien’s dual-zither playing scatters melodic fragments and spirals of harmony
around the decimated space opened up by the lugubrious bass playing and pounding, brooding drum pads.
Coupled with the Welsh vocal, Tristwch y Fenywod embody a new, unique Celtic darkwave sound, equal parts
Pornography-era The Cure, Svitlana Nianio’s haunted hammered string-work and the dark beauty of Dead Can
Dance or This Mortal Coil. Opener Blodyn Gwyrdd feels like the last ride of Princess Ukok, with lumbering bass
and 6/8 rhythms in procession to the event horizon with an entreating, impassioned vocal and surprising lyrical
theme. The doomed dancing of the zither provides the mysterious melodic bedrock throughout the album,
particularly on Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du’s heavy funereal sway and the slowly building, paroxysmal banshee
breakdown of Awen: an astonishing swell of thrilling chaos.
The album was recorded and produced by Ross Halden and the band at Hohm Studio, Bradford, Summer 2023.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
CD
Tracklist
1. Blodyn Gwynedd
2. Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du
3. Y Trawsnewidiad
4. Llwydwyrdd
5. Byd Mewn Cysgod
6. Gelain Görs
7. Awen
8. ‘Nes I Ddawnsio Efo’r Lleuad
Singing black-lit liturgies of bog bodies caked in mud, entranced by nocturnal landscapes flickering in the moonglow and powered by queer enchantment, Tristwch y Fenywod are a Welsh-language gothic avant-rock powercoven. Exhumed from the depths of Leeds’ experimental underground, the trio consist of Gwretsien Ferch
Lisbeth (Guttersnipe, The Ephemeron Loop), Leila Lygad (Hawthonn) and Sidni Sarffwraig (Slaylor Moon, The
Courtneys).
Stark, striking and bewitching, Tristwch y Fenywod’s self-titled album is their debut studio recording, following just
10 gigs and a live demo. Formed in 2022, Tristwch y Fenywod ("The Sadness of Women”) record exclusively in the
Welsh language, conjuring an eldritch, subterranean, alien folk music played on dual zither, electronic drums and
bass guitar. With towering, siren-like vocals curling around the Welsh consonants, accompanied by stark, martial
rhythms and swirling claw-plucked strings, Tristwch y Fenywod feels like an early 4AD recording dredged from the
waters of an Anglesey swamp. The effect is simultaneously chilling and stirring.
The eight tracks on the record constitute what feels like a recently rediscovered, unholy grail of edgy, atmospheric,
occult feminist goth emissions. Gwretsien’s dual-zither playing scatters melodic fragments and spirals of harmony
around the decimated space opened up by the lugubrious bass playing and pounding, brooding drum pads.
Coupled with the Welsh vocal, Tristwch y Fenywod embody a new, unique Celtic darkwave sound, equal parts
Pornography-era The Cure, Svitlana Nianio’s haunted hammered string-work and the dark beauty of Dead Can
Dance or This Mortal Coil. Opener Blodyn Gwyrdd feels like the last ride of Princess Ukok, with lumbering bass
and 6/8 rhythms in procession to the event horizon with an entreating, impassioned vocal and surprising lyrical
theme. The doomed dancing of the zither provides the mysterious melodic bedrock throughout the album,
particularly on Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du’s heavy funereal sway and the slowly building, paroxysmal banshee
breakdown of Awen: an astonishing swell of thrilling chaos.
The album was recorded and produced by Ross Halden and the band at Hohm Studio, Bradford, Summer 2023.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
LP, Terrtory: WW-UKUSA-BNLX
**LTD PINK VINYL REPRESS**
Tracklist: 1. The City Was 2. Always 3. Comet 4 4. Behind The Fire 5. Feel The Way 6. Sonya's Lament 7. Already Over 8. What We Found 9. With Us For Now 10. Wider Arcs 11. The Return
It’s abundantly clear from the first bars of their 5th studio album Through Other Reflection, that this is, and could only ever be, The Soundcarriers. From the enchanting vocal duets of folk-bidden Chanteuses Leonore Wheatley and Dorian Conway; to the precise bass lines of Paul Isherwood and the limber, jazz-cool, Hal Blaine-esque drums of his his co-songwriter Adam Cann; from the fairy-like flutes, 60s-garage guitars and organ sounds pilfered from the archives of exotica - listening to the Soundcarriers resembles a rediscovery of all the most prized, esoteric corners of the 1960s, all bundled up, warped and refracted through the quartet’s astutely modern cultural lens. Channelling Tropicalia, Middle Eastern psychedelic Jazz/Funk, The French Library sounds of Nino Nardini, and a whole host of lavish obscurites beside, Through Other Reflection delivers another sonic adventure from one of the most unique and distinctive voices of British Psychedelia.
After an 8 year wait for their album 4 - 2022’s Wilds - it thankfully didn’t take so long for the follow-up this time round. In many ways, this feels like a companion to Wilds; recording again at their Nottingham warehouse studio, Through Other Reflection retains that same organic glow, all the passions and imperfections of a tightly clipped unit jamming out these living, breathing pop-art nuggets as if straight onto the acetate.”We wanted to keep an air of spontaneity with this album and not get too bogged with the recording process”, explains Cann, “It was more a case of getting the songs as tightly written and arranged as possible first so we could get them down quickly in the studio. It always takes longer than you think”
Less packed with strident pop hooks as its predecessor however, the music of Through… has been given extra licence to breathe, stretch out, and wander more uncharted terrains. While gleaming psych-pop of tracks like ‘The City Was’, or ‘Already Over’ confidently carry on from where they left off, from the album’s 2nd track ‘Always’, the trip becomes a little less predictable. Starting out as a smoky Procol Harum-meets-French-Psych organ ballad, the music drifts, as if of its own accord into an eerie, garage trance that lingers, cycles, and hypnotises, growing ever stranger, reaching ever-further away from its point of conception.
And almost every track on Through Other Reflections holds that outer-body moment, where the band fix themselves on a limber, lysergic groove, lose all grip on time and reality, and melt themselves away into a liquid state of blind euphoria. There are sequences on this record that feel more like rituals than songs, built upon a single hypnotic rhythm which, like the centre of a vortex, pulling everything under its beatific command. Take the finale to ‘What We Found’ for instance, sounding like a ghostly march across the psychedelic moors, or ‘Feel The Way’, where a single athletic drum-loop rises and rises, growing ever more urgent and suspenseful underneath its frantic harpsichords and rasping flutes.
Full of such rich stylisms as these, The Soundcarriers showcase themselves as abstract storytellers par excellence by virtue of their textures and arrangements alone. Resembling Romantic composer Maurice Ravel, but if he had just a four-piece rock band at his disposal, Through Other Reflects is rich with detail; there’s shakers, rattles, clarinets, booming drums; there’s synthesiser swarms, chiming xylophones, vintage organs and experimental Cluster & Eno-esque ambiences. Within all this nuance the music flows like some undisclosed narrative swathed in a magnetic secrecy. “It almost comes across like a story in some ways”, says Cann of the album, “the music is quite sectional with elements of exotica and cinematic type layers, it's a good balance of grooves, tunes and weirdness”. No more is this “epic cinematic feel” heard more proudly than on short instrumental ‘Sonya’s Lament” - its innate, hauntological atmospheres befitting a Peter Strickland soundtrack, or the classics of Lex Baxter, the so-called ‘Founder of Exotica’ himself.
On the other hand, providing a greasier undercurrent to all these bucolic sounds is a leaning towards a more “direct” lyricism referencing more “external concerns. Laying down the first tracks for the album in the wintry gloom of pre-lockdown 2020, and drawing inspiration from time spent in Berlin, Through Other Reflections returns to some of the post-apocalyptic futurism explored in 2014’s Entropicalia - a loose concept album inspired by J.G Ballard’s The Drowned World. “The songs explore a disillusionment with the way things are going particularly after 40 years of neoliberalism”, says Cann, “They follow that folk-song tradition of wanting to escape to an imagined time, but here it’s more urban than pastoral. The first couple of ideas I came up with when doing some music in Berlin and had some time to wander aimlessly. And think the atmosphere seeped in, particularly on The City Was and Already Over.
He continues, “One aspect of the title, ‘Through Other Reflections’ is about synthesis and layers of influence. How things can be filtered through other things and change the perspective. This is something you get in cities as well.” Though, as with everything The Soundcarriers make, “It can mean anything. It also just sounds kind of cool.”
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
**LTD PINK VINYL REPRESS**
Tracklist: 1. The City Was 2. Always 3. Comet 4 4. Behind The Fire 5. Feel The Way 6. Sonya's Lament 7. Already Over 8. What We Found 9. With Us For Now 10. Wider Arcs 11. The Return
It’s abundantly clear from the first bars of their 5th studio album Through Other Reflection, that this is, and could only ever be, The Soundcarriers. From the enchanting vocal duets of folk-bidden Chanteuses Leonore Wheatley and Dorian Conway; to the precise bass lines of Paul Isherwood and the limber, jazz-cool, Hal Blaine-esque drums of his his co-songwriter Adam Cann; from the fairy-like flutes, 60s-garage guitars and organ sounds pilfered from the archives of exotica - listening to the Soundcarriers resembles a rediscovery of all the most prized, esoteric corners of the 1960s, all bundled up, warped and refracted through the quartet’s astutely modern cultural lens. Channelling Tropicalia, Middle Eastern psychedelic Jazz/Funk, The French Library sounds of Nino Nardini, and a whole host of lavish obscurites beside, Through Other Reflection delivers another sonic adventure from one of the most unique and distinctive voices of British Psychedelia.
After an 8 year wait for their album 4 - 2022’s Wilds - it thankfully didn’t take so long for the follow-up this time round. In many ways, this feels like a companion to Wilds; recording again at their Nottingham warehouse studio, Through Other Reflection retains that same organic glow, all the passions and imperfections of a tightly clipped unit jamming out these living, breathing pop-art nuggets as if straight onto the acetate.”We wanted to keep an air of spontaneity with this album and not get too bogged with the recording process”, explains Cann, “It was more a case of getting the songs as tightly written and arranged as possible first so we could get them down quickly in the studio. It always takes longer than you think”
Less packed with strident pop hooks as its predecessor however, the music of Through… has been given extra licence to breathe, stretch out, and wander more uncharted terrains. While gleaming psych-pop of tracks like ‘The City Was’, or ‘Already Over’ confidently carry on from where they left off, from the album’s 2nd track ‘Always’, the trip becomes a little less predictable. Starting out as a smoky Procol Harum-meets-French-Psych organ ballad, the music drifts, as if of its own accord into an eerie, garage trance that lingers, cycles, and hypnotises, growing ever stranger, reaching ever-further away from its point of conception.
And almost every track on Through Other Reflections holds that outer-body moment, where the band fix themselves on a limber, lysergic groove, lose all grip on time and reality, and melt themselves away into a liquid state of blind euphoria. There are sequences on this record that feel more like rituals than songs, built upon a single hypnotic rhythm which, like the centre of a vortex, pulling everything under its beatific command. Take the finale to ‘What We Found’ for instance, sounding like a ghostly march across the psychedelic moors, or ‘Feel The Way’, where a single athletic drum-loop rises and rises, growing ever more urgent and suspenseful underneath its frantic harpsichords and rasping flutes.
Full of such rich stylisms as these, The Soundcarriers showcase themselves as abstract storytellers par excellence by virtue of their textures and arrangements alone. Resembling Romantic composer Maurice Ravel, but if he had just a four-piece rock band at his disposal, Through Other Reflects is rich with detail; there’s shakers, rattles, clarinets, booming drums; there’s synthesiser swarms, chiming xylophones, vintage organs and experimental Cluster & Eno-esque ambiences. Within all this nuance the music flows like some undisclosed narrative swathed in a magnetic secrecy. “It almost comes across like a story in some ways”, says Cann of the album, “the music is quite sectional with elements of exotica and cinematic type layers, it's a good balance of grooves, tunes and weirdness”. No more is this “epic cinematic feel” heard more proudly than on short instrumental ‘Sonya’s Lament” - its innate, hauntological atmospheres befitting a Peter Strickland soundtrack, or the classics of Lex Baxter, the so-called ‘Founder of Exotica’ himself.
On the other hand, providing a greasier undercurrent to all these bucolic sounds is a leaning towards a more “direct” lyricism referencing more “external concerns. Laying down the first tracks for the album in the wintry gloom of pre-lockdown 2020, and drawing inspiration from time spent in Berlin, Through Other Reflections returns to some of the post-apocalyptic futurism explored in 2014’s Entropicalia - a loose concept album inspired by J.G Ballard’s The Drowned World. “The songs explore a disillusionment with the way things are going particularly after 40 years of neoliberalism”, says Cann, “They follow that folk-song tradition of wanting to escape to an imagined time, but here it’s more urban than pastoral. The first couple of ideas I came up with when doing some music in Berlin and had some time to wander aimlessly. And think the atmosphere seeped in, particularly on The City Was and Already Over.
He continues, “One aspect of the title, ‘Through Other Reflections’ is about synthesis and layers of influence. How things can be filtered through other things and change the perspective. This is something you get in cities as well.” Though, as with everything The Soundcarriers make, “It can mean anything. It also just sounds kind of cool.”
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
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Grauzone - Ich Lieb Sie
2024 repress
The First Authorised, Official Re Edition of this Electronic, New Wave, Cold Wave, Pop, Synth, Post-Punk Classic, Personally Overseen by Stephan Eicher, Everything Original: Art, Tracklist, Cut on 45 rpm - Printed on 350 GSM Paperstock incl. Sticker!
WRWTFWW Records is very honored to announce the official reissue of Grauzone’s essential 1981 maxi single with timeless classic "Eisbär", proto-techno beast "FILM 2", and romantic synth ballad "Ich Lieb Sie", just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Swiss band’s formation. The three-track vinyl is sourced from the original reels, cut at 45rpm, and comes with its iconic artwork on a 350gsm sleeve.
Tracklisting:
A1. Eisbär
B1. FILM 2
B2. Ich Lieb Sie
Info:
WRWTFWW Records is very honored to announce the official reissue of Grauzone’s essential 1981 maxi single with timeless classic "Eisbär", proto-techno beast "FILM 2", and romantic synth ballad "Ich Lieb Sie", just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Swiss band’s formation. The three-track vinyl is sourced from the original reels, cut at 45rpm, and comes with its iconic artwork on a 350gsm sleeve.
Ich möchte ein Eisbär sein…Written by Martin Eicher after a nightmare in which he saw talking polar bears on the walls, and with music by the Grauzone crew consisting of Martin and his brother Stephan Eicher, Marco Repetto, Christian "GT" Trüssel, and Claudine Chirac (on saxophone), "Eisbär" is the most recognizable title from the band, a sublime mix of ingredients reflecting the transitional era it comes from - the raw energy of punk music still palpable, combined with the audacity of early electronics, the warm groove of a disco gem, beautifully fragile lyrics, and one of the best basslines ever. It became a mega hit, totally unplanned, but how could you resist such a track?
"FILM 2" is the ultimate b-side monster, a menacing all-instrumental pre-techno masterpiece, slowly building to a magnetizing frenzy. An instant underground favorite, it was famously heard played at both speeds depending on the scenes and DJs you were frequenting, 45rpm as it was first intended, and 33rpm for the cosmic experience (search Daniele Baldelli’s Cosmic C75 1982 mixtape online for a great example of this).
The maxi single ends with "Ich Lieb Sie", a synth-pop meets doo-wop ballad, a true love song oozing with innocence. Simple, stylish, and just right.
At the crossroads of post-punk, new wave, pop, and electronic experimentation, the Eisbär maxi offers three songs that are technically different but hold the same spirit, the perfect embodiment of Grauzone’s music - wild, unpredictable, and youthful, yet sophisticated, catchy, and ingenious. The magic recipe for the good stuff.
Stephan Eicher went on to be, arguably, the most successful Swiss musician ever, with an international career extending from pop chanson to experimental escapades and collaborations with Moondog, artists Sophie Calle and John Armleder, and author Martin Suter among many other luminaries. Marco Repetto flourished as a techno and ambient producer, releasing multiple projects including releases on Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label.
Grauzone and WRWTFWW will continue to collaborate on the band’s 40th anniversary reissue campaign, with numerous projects planned for the year, including a vast selection of music, visuals, and literature never available before.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
The First Authorised, Official Re Edition of this Electronic, New Wave, Cold Wave, Pop, Synth, Post-Punk Classic, Personally Overseen by Stephan Eicher, Everything Original: Art, Tracklist, Cut on 45 rpm - Printed on 350 GSM Paperstock incl. Sticker!
WRWTFWW Records is very honored to announce the official reissue of Grauzone’s essential 1981 maxi single with timeless classic "Eisbär", proto-techno beast "FILM 2", and romantic synth ballad "Ich Lieb Sie", just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Swiss band’s formation. The three-track vinyl is sourced from the original reels, cut at 45rpm, and comes with its iconic artwork on a 350gsm sleeve.
Tracklisting:
A1. Eisbär
B1. FILM 2
B2. Ich Lieb Sie
Info:
WRWTFWW Records is very honored to announce the official reissue of Grauzone’s essential 1981 maxi single with timeless classic "Eisbär", proto-techno beast "FILM 2", and romantic synth ballad "Ich Lieb Sie", just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Swiss band’s formation. The three-track vinyl is sourced from the original reels, cut at 45rpm, and comes with its iconic artwork on a 350gsm sleeve.
Ich möchte ein Eisbär sein…Written by Martin Eicher after a nightmare in which he saw talking polar bears on the walls, and with music by the Grauzone crew consisting of Martin and his brother Stephan Eicher, Marco Repetto, Christian "GT" Trüssel, and Claudine Chirac (on saxophone), "Eisbär" is the most recognizable title from the band, a sublime mix of ingredients reflecting the transitional era it comes from - the raw energy of punk music still palpable, combined with the audacity of early electronics, the warm groove of a disco gem, beautifully fragile lyrics, and one of the best basslines ever. It became a mega hit, totally unplanned, but how could you resist such a track?
"FILM 2" is the ultimate b-side monster, a menacing all-instrumental pre-techno masterpiece, slowly building to a magnetizing frenzy. An instant underground favorite, it was famously heard played at both speeds depending on the scenes and DJs you were frequenting, 45rpm as it was first intended, and 33rpm for the cosmic experience (search Daniele Baldelli’s Cosmic C75 1982 mixtape online for a great example of this).
The maxi single ends with "Ich Lieb Sie", a synth-pop meets doo-wop ballad, a true love song oozing with innocence. Simple, stylish, and just right.
At the crossroads of post-punk, new wave, pop, and electronic experimentation, the Eisbär maxi offers three songs that are technically different but hold the same spirit, the perfect embodiment of Grauzone’s music - wild, unpredictable, and youthful, yet sophisticated, catchy, and ingenious. The magic recipe for the good stuff.
Stephan Eicher went on to be, arguably, the most successful Swiss musician ever, with an international career extending from pop chanson to experimental escapades and collaborations with Moondog, artists Sophie Calle and John Armleder, and author Martin Suter among many other luminaries. Marco Repetto flourished as a techno and ambient producer, releasing multiple projects including releases on Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label.
Grauzone and WRWTFWW will continue to collaborate on the band’s 40th anniversary reissue campaign, with numerous projects planned for the year, including a vast selection of music, visuals, and literature never available before.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Label:Les Disques de culte
Cat-No:ALAINGORAGUER01
Release-Date:14.07.2023
Genre:Electronic, Electronica
Configuration:LP Excl
Label:Les Disques de culte
Cat-No:ALAINGORAGUER01
Release-Date:14.07.2023
Genre:Electronic, Electronica
Configuration:LP Excl
1
Alain Goraguer - Marie-Jeanne astique le pont CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (5.41)
2
Alain Goraguer - Post Scriptum Post Coïtum CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (8.29)
3
Alain Goraguer - Annie a le vent en croupe CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (3.27)
4
Alain Goraguer - Kikumi, paravent et par derrière INFIRMIERES A TOUT FAIRE (3.54)
5
Alain Goraguer - Partenaires particulières pour parties fines. INFIRMIERES A TOUT FAIRE (2.07)
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Alain Goraguer - Go Go Go Reggae CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (4.49)
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Alain Goraguer - Birgit et le mâle du pays LA PETITE ETRANGERE (3.23)
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Alain Goraguer - Juliette, décoincée dans l'ascenseur LE DROIT DE CUISSAGE (2.19)
2023 REPRESS EDITION - 100% ORIGINAL PACKAGING
1 180g LP + gatefold + inner 12 pages color exercise book (X RATED)
A brand new selection of unreleased musics composed by the great Alain Goraguer, know for his works with Serge Gainsbourg and Boris Vian for movies from the golden age of french pornography, brought together on a collector vinyl, object of all the desires
Vital Sales Points:
Eight never released before tracks composed by Alain Goraguer, orchestrator and composer of an impressive number of monumental french pop songs, from Boris Vian to Serge Gainsbourg, and well known by hip-hop fans and sampling lovers for his cult soundtrack for The Fantastic Planet.
Tracks saved from oblivion and fully restored, from the soundtracks of these evocative titles : Swinging Couple Cruise, Private Nurses, Right of the First Night and A Foreign Girl in Paris
Comes with a 12 pages color X-Rated Excercise book, with the classics : coloring, points to link and carvings, with a gallery of characters to carve and to layout of the included locations, to elaborate your own orgy, with any outside help ! Designed by famous french illustrateor Erwann Terrier.
Project funded through a crowfuding campaign in july 2018 that reached 700% of ist initial goal
https://www.kisskissbankbank.com/en/projects/alain-goraguer-musique-classee-x
Tracklist LP
A1 Marie-Jeanne astique le pont CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (5.41)
A2 Post Scriptum Post Coïtum CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (8.29)
A3 Annie a le vent en croupe CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (3.27)
B1 Kikumi, paravent et par derrière INFIRMIERES A TOUT FAIRE (3.54)
B2 Partenaires particulières pour parties fines. INFIRMIERES A TOUT FAIRE (2.07)
B3 Go Go Go Reggae CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (4.49)
B4 Birgit et le mâle du pays LA PETITE ETRANGERE (3.23)
B5 Juliette, décoincée dans l'ascenseur LE DROIT DE CUISSAGE (2.19)
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1 180g LP + gatefold + inner 12 pages color exercise book (X RATED)
A brand new selection of unreleased musics composed by the great Alain Goraguer, know for his works with Serge Gainsbourg and Boris Vian for movies from the golden age of french pornography, brought together on a collector vinyl, object of all the desires
Vital Sales Points:
Eight never released before tracks composed by Alain Goraguer, orchestrator and composer of an impressive number of monumental french pop songs, from Boris Vian to Serge Gainsbourg, and well known by hip-hop fans and sampling lovers for his cult soundtrack for The Fantastic Planet.
Tracks saved from oblivion and fully restored, from the soundtracks of these evocative titles : Swinging Couple Cruise, Private Nurses, Right of the First Night and A Foreign Girl in Paris
Comes with a 12 pages color X-Rated Excercise book, with the classics : coloring, points to link and carvings, with a gallery of characters to carve and to layout of the included locations, to elaborate your own orgy, with any outside help ! Designed by famous french illustrateor Erwann Terrier.
Project funded through a crowfuding campaign in july 2018 that reached 700% of ist initial goal
https://www.kisskissbankbank.com/en/projects/alain-goraguer-musique-classee-x
Tracklist LP
A1 Marie-Jeanne astique le pont CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (5.41)
A2 Post Scriptum Post Coïtum CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (8.29)
A3 Annie a le vent en croupe CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (3.27)
B1 Kikumi, paravent et par derrière INFIRMIERES A TOUT FAIRE (3.54)
B2 Partenaires particulières pour parties fines. INFIRMIERES A TOUT FAIRE (2.07)
B3 Go Go Go Reggae CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (4.49)
B4 Birgit et le mâle du pays LA PETITE ETRANGERE (3.23)
B5 Juliette, décoincée dans l'ascenseur LE DROIT DE CUISSAGE (2.19)
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
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Coki - Super LFO
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Coki - Gotham
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Coki - Chalice
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Coki - Crystal Lake
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Coki - Not Today
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Coki - Heartless Ninja
Originally produced during 2003-2006, 6 Coki cult classics finally available on vinyl
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Soar - Frame
2
Soar - Unseen
3
Soar - Liquid Sky
4
Soar - Blue Air
5
Soar - Iglu
6
Soar - Flickering Wall
7
Soar - Die Lustigen Sedruner
8
Soar - Unveil
9
Soar - All Of A Sudden
10
Soar - To Jane Borki
11
Soar - Titnuts
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Soar - Moonchild
LP
Tracklist:
1. Frame
2. Unseen
3. Liquid Sky
4. Blue Air
5. Iglu
6. Flickering Wall
7. Die Lustigen Sedruner
8. Unveil
9. All Of A Sudden
10. To Jane Borki
11. Titnuts
12. Moonchild
Short info:
Reintroducing Soar - the alias of Christian Aebi, serial DIY taper and one-man orchestra from Langenthal, a fog-shrouded town in the Swiss provinces. Krautophobia, ambient lo-fi agriculture, analogue soul balm and slowspeed psych gelati-blitz cardboard pop only gesture towards the sound world he coaxed from his broken Tascam four-track recorder, in attics, churches, junkyards and at the kitchen table.
The spark for Soar was likely time and space, somewhere in the autumn of 1994. Armed with a cable salad of Sixties guitar/bass, fairground drums, mould-speckled organs and toy instruments, Aebi coaxed five albums, an unverified run of 25 cassettes, and a handful of gigs. Mostly issued through Zurich label Corazoo, the records arrived in hand-pasted sleeves, rough-cut reproductions of his teddy bear-fixated artwork that carried the same imperfect immediacy as the music. With Rudi Steiner, performances in galleries, clubs and halls bent into live sound-image happenings - part installation, part film, part flea-market-instrument theatre - invariably leaving the house engineers bewildered.
At the time of his untimely death in 2021, Aebi remained a village secret, his music passed quietly between friends and local ears. Now, Swiss graphic designer and Ghost Riders compiler Ivan Liechti has pieced together a portrait from the afterglow, gathering tangled audio formats, paintings, illustrations, photographs and notebooks with his family, former label and peers. What emerges is a first glimpse of Soar's intimate cosmos - brushing against Füxa, Spectrum, Dump, Stereolab and King Crimson, but orbiting a dimension entirely his own.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Tracklist:
1. Frame
2. Unseen
3. Liquid Sky
4. Blue Air
5. Iglu
6. Flickering Wall
7. Die Lustigen Sedruner
8. Unveil
9. All Of A Sudden
10. To Jane Borki
11. Titnuts
12. Moonchild
Short info:
Reintroducing Soar - the alias of Christian Aebi, serial DIY taper and one-man orchestra from Langenthal, a fog-shrouded town in the Swiss provinces. Krautophobia, ambient lo-fi agriculture, analogue soul balm and slowspeed psych gelati-blitz cardboard pop only gesture towards the sound world he coaxed from his broken Tascam four-track recorder, in attics, churches, junkyards and at the kitchen table.
The spark for Soar was likely time and space, somewhere in the autumn of 1994. Armed with a cable salad of Sixties guitar/bass, fairground drums, mould-speckled organs and toy instruments, Aebi coaxed five albums, an unverified run of 25 cassettes, and a handful of gigs. Mostly issued through Zurich label Corazoo, the records arrived in hand-pasted sleeves, rough-cut reproductions of his teddy bear-fixated artwork that carried the same imperfect immediacy as the music. With Rudi Steiner, performances in galleries, clubs and halls bent into live sound-image happenings - part installation, part film, part flea-market-instrument theatre - invariably leaving the house engineers bewildered.
At the time of his untimely death in 2021, Aebi remained a village secret, his music passed quietly between friends and local ears. Now, Swiss graphic designer and Ghost Riders compiler Ivan Liechti has pieced together a portrait from the afterglow, gathering tangled audio formats, paintings, illustrations, photographs and notebooks with his family, former label and peers. What emerges is a first glimpse of Soar's intimate cosmos - brushing against Füxa, Spectrum, Dump, Stereolab and King Crimson, but orbiting a dimension entirely his own.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
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L'Empire Des Sons - A3 Antilope
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L'Empire Des Sons - A4 Celles De La Haute Mer
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L'Empire Des Sons - A5 Opium
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L'Empire Des Sons - B1 Voyage Autour De Ma Tête
7
L'Empire Des Sons - B2 Le Trapéziste
8
L'Empire Des Sons - B3 Moitié Panthère
9
L'Empire Des Sons - B4 L'Année De La Comète
10
L'Empire Des Sons - B5 Quand Nos Pères Étaient Des Poissons
LP
GENRE/S: Avantgarde, Lounge, Experimental
TRACKLISTS:
A1 Venise
A2 Mais Où Est Donc Ornicar ?
A3 Antilope
A4 Celles De La Haute Mer
A5 Opium
B1 Voyage Autour De Ma Tête
B2 Le Trapéziste
B3 Moitié Panthère
B4 L'Année De La Comète
B5 Quand Nos Pères Étaient Des Poissons
SHORT INFO:
An elusive cult gem resurfaces through Glossy Mistakes. Originally released in 1986, L'Empire Des Sons is an otherworldly blend of synth pop, folk experimentation, and cinematic percussive layers-dreamlike, poetic, and wildly ahead of its time.
L'Empire Des Sons was a fleeting yet powerful transmission from the fringes of the French underground-an album that blurred genre lines and evaded easy classification. Fusing experimental folk, lo-fi synth pop, and avant-garde textures, the record exists in its own sonic universe: poetic, layered, and fiercely independent.
Formed in Saint-Étienne by percussionist and composer Dominique Lentin (Dagon, Fille Qui Mousse) and first-time vocalist Bipé Redon, L'Empire Des Sons emerged from the vibrant DIY spirit of the early 1980s. Their paths crossed during the interdisciplinary project L'Opéra Quotidien, and what followed was an intuitive, deeply collaborative process. "I would bring in lyrics and my voice," Bipé recalled, "and Dominique would shape the music around the atmosphere or rhythm suggested by the words."
The result is a collection of songs that feel both meticulously constructed and completely free. Ethnic percussion, marimbas, xylophones, and synthesizers dance around Bipé's surreal, fragmented lyrics-little sonic postcards from imagined worlds. There's a theatricality here, but it never feels forced; rather, it's playful, intimate, and raw.
Despite their inventiveness, L'Empire Des Sons remained a well-kept secret-circulating only in select avant-garde circles and eventually becoming an extremely sought-after collector's item.
Now, thanks to Glossy Mistakes, this lost artifact returns to the world with new life: remastered from the original tapes, pressed on vinyl for the first time with extended liner notes.
L'Empire Des Sons was never meant to be boxed in. Like the quote from Brian Eno that opens their liner notes-"For the world to be interesting, you have to be manipulating it all the time"-their music resists stasis. It evolves, shifts, surprises. And now, it finally gets the audience it always deserved.
VITAL SALES POINTS:
- One of the most sought-after private pressings from the French avant-garde
- Remastered from source material
- Includes extensive liner notes with unseen pictures of the band
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
GENRE/S: Avantgarde, Lounge, Experimental
TRACKLISTS:
A1 Venise
A2 Mais Où Est Donc Ornicar ?
A3 Antilope
A4 Celles De La Haute Mer
A5 Opium
B1 Voyage Autour De Ma Tête
B2 Le Trapéziste
B3 Moitié Panthère
B4 L'Année De La Comète
B5 Quand Nos Pères Étaient Des Poissons
SHORT INFO:
An elusive cult gem resurfaces through Glossy Mistakes. Originally released in 1986, L'Empire Des Sons is an otherworldly blend of synth pop, folk experimentation, and cinematic percussive layers-dreamlike, poetic, and wildly ahead of its time.
L'Empire Des Sons was a fleeting yet powerful transmission from the fringes of the French underground-an album that blurred genre lines and evaded easy classification. Fusing experimental folk, lo-fi synth pop, and avant-garde textures, the record exists in its own sonic universe: poetic, layered, and fiercely independent.
Formed in Saint-Étienne by percussionist and composer Dominique Lentin (Dagon, Fille Qui Mousse) and first-time vocalist Bipé Redon, L'Empire Des Sons emerged from the vibrant DIY spirit of the early 1980s. Their paths crossed during the interdisciplinary project L'Opéra Quotidien, and what followed was an intuitive, deeply collaborative process. "I would bring in lyrics and my voice," Bipé recalled, "and Dominique would shape the music around the atmosphere or rhythm suggested by the words."
The result is a collection of songs that feel both meticulously constructed and completely free. Ethnic percussion, marimbas, xylophones, and synthesizers dance around Bipé's surreal, fragmented lyrics-little sonic postcards from imagined worlds. There's a theatricality here, but it never feels forced; rather, it's playful, intimate, and raw.
Despite their inventiveness, L'Empire Des Sons remained a well-kept secret-circulating only in select avant-garde circles and eventually becoming an extremely sought-after collector's item.
Now, thanks to Glossy Mistakes, this lost artifact returns to the world with new life: remastered from the original tapes, pressed on vinyl for the first time with extended liner notes.
L'Empire Des Sons was never meant to be boxed in. Like the quote from Brian Eno that opens their liner notes-"For the world to be interesting, you have to be manipulating it all the time"-their music resists stasis. It evolves, shifts, surprises. And now, it finally gets the audience it always deserved.
VITAL SALES POINTS:
- One of the most sought-after private pressings from the French avant-garde
- Remastered from source material
- Includes extensive liner notes with unseen pictures of the band
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Evelyne / Masao - Ich Weiß Nicht Mehr
2
Evelyne / Masao - Watashino Shonen
3
Evelyne / Masao - Paradis Perdu
4
Evelyne / Masao - Sakuramochi
5
Evelyne / Masao - Le Soleil Se Leve
6
Evelyne / Masao - La Jungle En Folie
7
Evelyne / Masao - Au Clair De La Lune
8
Evelyne / Masao - Singin In The Rain
9
Evelyne / Masao - Bird Island
10
Evelyne / Masao - Alien Go Home
11
Evelyne / Masao - Tu Te Fous De Moi
12
Evelyne / Masao - Time Out
13
Evelyne / Masao - Drole Doiseau
14
Evelyne / Masao - Time To Party
15
Evelyne / Masao - Tabac
16
Evelyne / Masao - Tale Of A Lizard
17
Evelyne / Masao - Moonman
Evelyne/Masao bring TESTPATTERN to Dark Entries for the label’s first foray into vintage Japanese electronics. Masao Hiruma and Fumio Ichimura’s project Testpattern is known for their release Apres-Midi, a cult slab of synthpop perfection released by Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono’s legendary Yen Records in 1982. While Hiruma and Ichimura parted ways following Apres-Midi, Hiruma’s musical endeavors would continue after meeting French/American model and vocalist Evelyne Bennu in 1984 at a café bar where she would sit and write poetry. Their collaborative efforts as Evelyne/Masao were fruitful, and the duo first performed together in June 1984 on a television program called TOKYO ROCK TV. The album TESTPATTERN comprises seventeen songs recorded in Hiruma’s home studio, which have never been released previously. The Evelyne/Masao duo continues building on the soundworld of Apres-Midi: lush, sophisticated electronics with intricate yet minimalist production. Tracks like “Sakuramochi” and “Bird Island” bear influence from Hosono most clearly, their soaring melodies revealing a subtly ironic redeployment of East Asian musical tropes. But TESTPATTERN is more than homage to Yellow Magic Orchestra. “Tabac” and “Le Soleil Se Leve” display oddball sensibilities closer to Sky Records icons Asmus Tietchens or Cluster. Elsewhere, the project shows affinity for the punkier ethos of continental DIY electronics, like on the quirky “Alien Go Home” and a positively skewed cover of “Singin’ in the Rain.” Bennu’s vocals provide a common thread through these explorations, as she alternates deftly between New Wave deadpan and unhinged chanson singer—check her waxing maximally Francophone on “Au Clair de Lune,” based on an 18th century French song. TESTPATTERN will be available on both double LP as well as CD, and includes a fold-out poster with liner notes with lyrics. This album is dedicated to Masao Hiruma, who passed away in 2011.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Label:Efficient Space
Cat-No:es009
Release-Date:27.05.2022
Genre:Alternative/Electronic
Configuration:2LP Excl
Label:Efficient Space
Cat-No:es009
Release-Date:27.05.2022
Genre:Alternative/Electronic
Configuration:2LP Excl
1
FSOM - Resist The Beat
2
Hypnoblob - Deep Down
3
Ian Eccles-Smith - The Slaughtering Eye
4
General Electrik Meets Andy Rantzen - Leather Lover
5
Jandy Rainbow and Adrenalentil - I Will Go
6
Sobriquet - Is This Your First Time? (Artificial Remix)
7
Blimp - Yellowgold
8
Inner Harmony - Da Lub Club
9
Maroochy Barambah - Mongungi (Dance Mix)
10
Third Eye - Behold The Angel Of Frequency
11
Tetrphnm - Track11
12
Screensaver - Eliminated
2022 Repress
Special remarks : 2LP with digital download card
Tracklist
A1. FSOM - Resist The Beat
A2. Hypnoblob - Deep Down
A3. Ian Eccles-Smith - The Slaughtering Eye
B1. General Electrik Meets Andy Rantzen - Leather Lover
B2. Jandy Rainbow and Adrenalentil - I Will Go
B3. Sobriquet - Is This Your First Time? (Artificial Remix)
C1. Blimp - Yellowgold
C2. Inner Harmony - Da Lub Club
C3. Maroochy Barambah - Mongungi (Dance Mix)
D1: Third Eye - Behold The Angel Of Frequency
D2. Tetrphnm - Track11
D3 Screensaver - Eliminated
Short info:
3AM Spares is a new collection of Australian Electronic Dance Music compiled Andras and Instant Peterson that encompasses the darker sounds and later nights of the 1990s and beyond. Following on from forerunner compilation Midnite Spares, this double LP draws from local 12" releases, CDRs and the archives of community radio station 3RRR FM to make a diverse and pumping scene audible once more. No longer confined to beer barns and back rooms, this generation of producers, DJs, clubbers and ravers spilled out into pavilions, warehouses and paddocks, embracing a new culture of machine-metaphor and chemical love.
Future Sound of Melbourne's warehouse triptych Resist The Beat embodies a time when the country's youth united with juggernaut stamina, partying beyond the long arm of the law. Restored from the ARIA award-winning trio's original DATs, this debut 12" incited label offers from Jeff Mills, Frank De Wulf and Carl Cox.
Released by the likes of Clan Analogue, Creative Vibes, Volition, DanceNet, Juice and Psy-Harmonics, this era's material has evaded sufficient digital documentation until now, some lost in the decommission of Angelfire, Tripod and Geocities websites. Often these bedroom experiments and one-off collaborations existed solely for compilation inclusions, a plausible scenario for the mysterious Inner Harmony. In the case of Tetrphnm, graphic artist Jeremy Dower's glacial sub-bass was digitised from the only known CD-R copy, preserved by the 3RRR FM library.
Many key figures of this narrative have deep roots in the DIY/post-punk family tree. Third Eye, the impressive evolution of Whirlywirld founder and industrial legend Ollie Olsen, finds common ground with I Will Go, a hypnotic concoction by Adrenalentil and Poets of the Machine associate Jandy Rainbow, a transgender artist whose liberated electronics trace back to 1978.
The most unique take on this new wave of dance music comes from Turrbal-Gubbi Gubbi woman and Stolen Generations survivor Maroochy Barambah. Recorded in New York, Mongungi incorporates two lines of a traditional Gubbi Gubbi song Gurri Nina Nami with the sound palette of tribal house, highlighting the broadening ways that identity and culture were being negotiated and manifested within club music.
A lesson in intelligent appropriation, Artificial's Sobriquet remix bends one of the most looped samples of all time to fit a wired new generation's interrogation of that thing called disco. Artificial's ingenuity was vital impact to the scene, releasing three influential albums as one half of B(if)tek and establishing the WINK Awards - a music prize that recognised and encouraged subversive electronics. Her playfulness is mirrored in Blimp's frisky garage house, recalling Paul Johnson, while Ian Eccles-Smith's borrowing is comparatively more discrete on the chillout sampledelic collage The Slaughtering Eye.
Andy Rantzen returns to Efficient Space in two incarnations - as one half of Itch-E + Scratch-E ambient alias Screensaver, and in collaboration with General Electrik on Leather Lover, a cocked and loaded glimpse at the bottom end of Oxford street, originally recorded for the Club Kooky compilation Gay In The Life: Adventures in the Queer Underground. Reinventing himself as Hypnoblob, fellow Sydney Oz Wave artist Ian Andrews also gives us his pneumatic-drill-step Deep Down.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Special remarks : 2LP with digital download card
Tracklist
A1. FSOM - Resist The Beat
A2. Hypnoblob - Deep Down
A3. Ian Eccles-Smith - The Slaughtering Eye
B1. General Electrik Meets Andy Rantzen - Leather Lover
B2. Jandy Rainbow and Adrenalentil - I Will Go
B3. Sobriquet - Is This Your First Time? (Artificial Remix)
C1. Blimp - Yellowgold
C2. Inner Harmony - Da Lub Club
C3. Maroochy Barambah - Mongungi (Dance Mix)
D1: Third Eye - Behold The Angel Of Frequency
D2. Tetrphnm - Track11
D3 Screensaver - Eliminated
Short info:
3AM Spares is a new collection of Australian Electronic Dance Music compiled Andras and Instant Peterson that encompasses the darker sounds and later nights of the 1990s and beyond. Following on from forerunner compilation Midnite Spares, this double LP draws from local 12" releases, CDRs and the archives of community radio station 3RRR FM to make a diverse and pumping scene audible once more. No longer confined to beer barns and back rooms, this generation of producers, DJs, clubbers and ravers spilled out into pavilions, warehouses and paddocks, embracing a new culture of machine-metaphor and chemical love.
Future Sound of Melbourne's warehouse triptych Resist The Beat embodies a time when the country's youth united with juggernaut stamina, partying beyond the long arm of the law. Restored from the ARIA award-winning trio's original DATs, this debut 12" incited label offers from Jeff Mills, Frank De Wulf and Carl Cox.
Released by the likes of Clan Analogue, Creative Vibes, Volition, DanceNet, Juice and Psy-Harmonics, this era's material has evaded sufficient digital documentation until now, some lost in the decommission of Angelfire, Tripod and Geocities websites. Often these bedroom experiments and one-off collaborations existed solely for compilation inclusions, a plausible scenario for the mysterious Inner Harmony. In the case of Tetrphnm, graphic artist Jeremy Dower's glacial sub-bass was digitised from the only known CD-R copy, preserved by the 3RRR FM library.
Many key figures of this narrative have deep roots in the DIY/post-punk family tree. Third Eye, the impressive evolution of Whirlywirld founder and industrial legend Ollie Olsen, finds common ground with I Will Go, a hypnotic concoction by Adrenalentil and Poets of the Machine associate Jandy Rainbow, a transgender artist whose liberated electronics trace back to 1978.
The most unique take on this new wave of dance music comes from Turrbal-Gubbi Gubbi woman and Stolen Generations survivor Maroochy Barambah. Recorded in New York, Mongungi incorporates two lines of a traditional Gubbi Gubbi song Gurri Nina Nami with the sound palette of tribal house, highlighting the broadening ways that identity and culture were being negotiated and manifested within club music.
A lesson in intelligent appropriation, Artificial's Sobriquet remix bends one of the most looped samples of all time to fit a wired new generation's interrogation of that thing called disco. Artificial's ingenuity was vital impact to the scene, releasing three influential albums as one half of B(if)tek and establishing the WINK Awards - a music prize that recognised and encouraged subversive electronics. Her playfulness is mirrored in Blimp's frisky garage house, recalling Paul Johnson, while Ian Eccles-Smith's borrowing is comparatively more discrete on the chillout sampledelic collage The Slaughtering Eye.
Andy Rantzen returns to Efficient Space in two incarnations - as one half of Itch-E + Scratch-E ambient alias Screensaver, and in collaboration with General Electrik on Leather Lover, a cocked and loaded glimpse at the bottom end of Oxford street, originally recorded for the Club Kooky compilation Gay In The Life: Adventures in the Queer Underground. Reinventing himself as Hypnoblob, fellow Sydney Oz Wave artist Ian Andrews also gives us his pneumatic-drill-step Deep Down.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
DJ Deeon - No Title
2
DJ Deeon - No Title
3
DJ Deeon - No Title
4
DJ Deeon - No Title
5
DJ Deeon - No Title
6
DJ Deeon - No Title
DJ Deeon presents his masterepiece from 1994 "Funk City" originally released on Dance Mania now on CHIWAX CLASSIC EDITION vol. 32! The re-mastered black vinyl edition will be out first week on June. A must have for all Chicago & Ghetto House - fans!
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Yoshiaki Ochi - Dawning
2
Yoshiaki Ochi - Balasong
3
Yoshiaki Ochi - Woods From The Sea
4
Yoshiaki Ochi - Madal Sonic
5
Yoshiaki Ochi - Anywhere
6
Yoshiaki Ochi - Beatsonic
7
Yoshiaki Ochi - Madal Sonic # 2
8
Yoshiaki Ochi - Ear Dreamin’
9
Yoshiaki Ochi - Urban Kogili
10
Yoshiaki Ochi - Beat The Water
Genre: Environmental, Ambient, Minimalism, Percussive, Tribal, Experimental
Tracklisting LP
A1. Dawning 5:20
A2. Balasong 4:32
A3. Woods From The Sea 3:43
A4. Madal Sonic 3:44
A5. Anywhere 5:06
B1. Beatsonic 4:48
B2. Madal Sonic # 2 3:20
B3. Ear Dreamin’ 4:41
B4. Urban Kogili 6:47
B5. Beat The Water 2:28
Info
WRWTFWW Records is thrilled to unveil the limited edition vinyl reissue of Natural Sonic, the groundbreaking 1990 environmental percussion album by Japanese composer and performer Yoshiaki Ochi. Long a hidden gem of the kanky? ongaku movement, Natural Sonic finally returns in its full analog glory, housed in a heavyweight sleeve with obi and carefully remastered from the original archives of Wacoal Art Center / Spiral's visionary NEWSIC label.
Originally released only in Japan at the dawn of the 1990s, Natural Sonic is a mesmerizing exploration of earthly sound and rhythm - a sonic tapestry woven from wood, water, and stone, and skin. Ochi, who at the time was the in-house composer and performer for world-renowned designer Issey Miyake, created a series of elemental pieces that blur the line between avant-garde percussion, ritual music, and environmental sound art. The result is both deeply physical and profoundly meditative - an album that breathes with nature itself.
Echoing the organic minimalism of Midori Takada's Through the Looking Glass and the ecological grandeur of Geinoh Yamashirogumi's Ecophony Gaia, Ochi's compositions open portals into primal landscapes, evoking forests, rivers, and stones in flux. Part of NEWSIC's celebrated experimental catalog - alongside Yoshio Ojima's Une Collection des Chaînons, Motohiko Hamase's #Notes of Forestry, and Satsuki Shibano's Rendez-Vous - Natural Sonic now finds new life for contemporary listeners seeking sound that feels both timeless and vital.
A singular album of resonance and restraint, Natural Sonic is a treasure from the golden age of Japanese environmental music, finally available again over three decades later.
Points of Interest
- Limited edition vinyl reissue of Yoshiaki Ochi's Natural Sonic (1990), a cult Japanese environmental music and percussion masterpiece, housed in heavyweight sleeve with obi.
- Originally released on NEWSIC, the forward-thinking label operated by Wacoal Art Center / Spiral (home to Yoshio Ojima, Motohiko Hamase, Satsuki Shibano, and more).
- A unique blend of earthly percussion (wood, water, stone) and environmental soundscapes, created during Ochi's tenure as in-house composer for Issey Miyake.
- Essential listening for fans of ambient, percussion, kanky? ongaku, experimental sound art, nature recordings, and artists such as Midori Takada, Geinoh Yamashirogumi, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yoshio Ojima.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Tracklisting LP
A1. Dawning 5:20
A2. Balasong 4:32
A3. Woods From The Sea 3:43
A4. Madal Sonic 3:44
A5. Anywhere 5:06
B1. Beatsonic 4:48
B2. Madal Sonic # 2 3:20
B3. Ear Dreamin’ 4:41
B4. Urban Kogili 6:47
B5. Beat The Water 2:28
Info
WRWTFWW Records is thrilled to unveil the limited edition vinyl reissue of Natural Sonic, the groundbreaking 1990 environmental percussion album by Japanese composer and performer Yoshiaki Ochi. Long a hidden gem of the kanky? ongaku movement, Natural Sonic finally returns in its full analog glory, housed in a heavyweight sleeve with obi and carefully remastered from the original archives of Wacoal Art Center / Spiral's visionary NEWSIC label.
Originally released only in Japan at the dawn of the 1990s, Natural Sonic is a mesmerizing exploration of earthly sound and rhythm - a sonic tapestry woven from wood, water, and stone, and skin. Ochi, who at the time was the in-house composer and performer for world-renowned designer Issey Miyake, created a series of elemental pieces that blur the line between avant-garde percussion, ritual music, and environmental sound art. The result is both deeply physical and profoundly meditative - an album that breathes with nature itself.
Echoing the organic minimalism of Midori Takada's Through the Looking Glass and the ecological grandeur of Geinoh Yamashirogumi's Ecophony Gaia, Ochi's compositions open portals into primal landscapes, evoking forests, rivers, and stones in flux. Part of NEWSIC's celebrated experimental catalog - alongside Yoshio Ojima's Une Collection des Chaînons, Motohiko Hamase's #Notes of Forestry, and Satsuki Shibano's Rendez-Vous - Natural Sonic now finds new life for contemporary listeners seeking sound that feels both timeless and vital.
A singular album of resonance and restraint, Natural Sonic is a treasure from the golden age of Japanese environmental music, finally available again over three decades later.
Points of Interest
- Limited edition vinyl reissue of Yoshiaki Ochi's Natural Sonic (1990), a cult Japanese environmental music and percussion masterpiece, housed in heavyweight sleeve with obi.
- Originally released on NEWSIC, the forward-thinking label operated by Wacoal Art Center / Spiral (home to Yoshio Ojima, Motohiko Hamase, Satsuki Shibano, and more).
- A unique blend of earthly percussion (wood, water, stone) and environmental soundscapes, created during Ochi's tenure as in-house composer for Issey Miyake.
- Essential listening for fans of ambient, percussion, kanky? ongaku, experimental sound art, nature recordings, and artists such as Midori Takada, Geinoh Yamashirogumi, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yoshio Ojima.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Susumu Yokota - A1. Zenmai (2024 Remaster)
2
Susumu Yokota - A2. Kinoko (2024 Remaster)
3
Susumu Yokota - A3. Meijijingu (2024 Remaster)
4
Susumu Yokota - B1. Saboten (2024 Remaster)
5
Susumu Yokota - B2. Oh My God (2024 Remaster)
6
Susumu Yokota - B3. Tambarin (2024 Remaster)
7
Susumu Yokota - C1. Oponchi (2024 Remaster)
8
Susumu Yokota - C2. Ao-oni (2024 Remaster)
9
Susumu Yokota - C3.3. Akafuji (2024 Remaster)
10
Susumu Yokota - D1. Alphaville (2024 Remaster)
11
Susumu Yokota - D2. Tanuki (2024 Remaster)
12
Susumu Yokota - E1. Floating G (2024 Remaster)**
13
Susumu Yokota - E2. H (2024 Remaster)**
14
Susumu Yokota - E3. B (2024 Remaster)**
15
Susumu Yokota - F1. F (2024 Remaster)**
16
Susumu Yokota - F2. 2 H (2024 Remaster)**
Triple gatefold heavyweight 180g vinyl, Remastered original LP , Incl. 5 unreleased tracks released for the 1st time on vinyl`see tracklist below for details!
"A mesmerizing Japanese ambient techno masterpiece that that completely rewires how you perceive music" Electronic Beats
"A mountainous Masterpiece. A powerful testament to rave culture's establishment and the birth of a new scene in Japan emerging in the mid '90s. One of Yokota's most celebrated work that merges Japanese new age and minimal techno"
Alex From Tokyo (Japan Vibrations, world famous, Paris)
GENRE/S: Techno, Acid, Ambient
New liner notes by Alex From Tokyo
On July 26th Susumu Yokota's venerated 1994 classic 'Acid Mt. Fuji' is reissued in expanded, deluxe fashion, as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the label that originally presented it. Japan's Musicmine - specifically it's electronic subsidiary Sublime Records - released the album on June 29th 1994, simultaneously with Ken Ishii's 'Reference To Difference', as their inaugural joint offering.
'Acid Mt. Fuji' is an enchanting mix of mystical ambient acid and futurist minimal techno, taking the listeners on a psychedelic pilgrimage, where 303, synths and electronic percussion are scented with reverb, echo and forest recordings. Merging Japanese new age and sparse electronica, the recording is free, organic, and energized - proffering a unique blend of early 90s western styles and the essence of his home country.
Yokota originally planned an ambient record, but 'Acid Mt. Fuji' evolved into a concept work featuring the Roland TB-303, which he recorded live at home alongside a sampler, yielding experimental and innovative results.
The longplayer found its muse in the famed 18th-19th century artist Hokusai's red rendition of Mt. Fuji, known as 'Red Fuji' or 'Akafuji'. Part of the painter's renowned 'Thirty Six Views of Mt. Fuji' series from the 1830s, 'Red Fuji' depicts the iconic sacred mountain aglow in red at dawn, symbolizing spirituality and creativity. With references to Japanese folklore, nature and shrines, tracks like 'Kinoko' and 'Meijijingu' invite the listener to immerse themselves in the album's spiritual depths.
Yokota's own homage-to-Hokusai drawing graces the record's cover, and was inspired by the concept of wa (harmony) - highlighting his diverse skills not only as a musician, but an artist and designer too.
'Acid Mt. Fuji' is a powerful testament to the establishment of rave culture in Japan, which rapidly developed within just two years, from 1992 to 1994. Largely due to praise for the breathtaking originality of the LP, within this burgeoning national techno scene, Yokota rose to prominence as one of its key figures.
He then became one of the most renowned artists to emerge from his homeland and enter the global electronic pantheon. He inspired a new wave of Japanese producers and DJs, contributing significantly to the growth of the techno movement in Japan.
Yokota was a solitary figure, an artist who expressed his life through the continuous creation of music. For those seeking something different; mystical, soothing, pristinely ergonomic and uniquely Japanese, this record stands as iconic as Mt. Fuji itself.
-
This triple vinyl Deluxe Edition includes the original album's eleven tracks alongside five raw and jacking rare gems, available on wax for the first time, which were previously included only in the Japanese 2016 Deluxe Edition CD.
There are also two digital-only bonus tracks. One is a live performance by Yokota, titled 'Live at Shibuya Beam Hall', which was recorded at Sublime Records' label launch party, held in September 1994. It was previously only released on the aforementioned 2016 Japanese CD edition. This event, titled 'Sublime Records Presents New Style of Electronic Ambient Party' featured performances by Susumu Yokota, Ken Ishii, Yoshihiro Sawasaki, Speedy J and DJ Wada. This ten minute long, rare live recording captures Yokota playing a dynamic, fast paced acid house live jam, using two TB-303s and a drum machine. The other digital only bonus track is an alternative version of 'H', which was discovered recently whilst excavating a DAT.
The liner notes are written by DJ/producer Alex From Tokyo, who was a good friend of Yokota, and experienced the 90s Tokyo club scene first-hand as an insider. His compilation 'Japan Vibrations Vol. 1' captures this golden era, and features music by Prism (Susumu Yokota), Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono, Yasuaki Shimizu, Quadra (Hiroshi Watanabe) and more.
3LP Vinyl
Catalogue no: MMDS24004LP
Side A
1. Zenmai (2024 Remaster)
2. Kinoko (2024 Remaster)
3. Meijijingu (2024 Remaster)
Side B
1. Saboten (2024 Remaster)
2. Oh My God (2024 Remaster)
3. Tambarin (2024 Remaster)
Side C
1. Oponchi (2024 Remaster)
2. Ao-oni (2024 Remaster)
3. Akafuji (2024 Remaster)
Side D
1. Alphaville (2024 Remaster)
2. Tanuki (2024 Remaster)
Side E
1. Floating G (2024 Remaster)**
2. H (2024 Remaster)**
3. B (2024 Remaster)**
Side F
1. F (2024 Remaster)**
2. 2 H (2024 Remaster)**
**= 5 unreleased tracks released for the 1st time on vinyl.
New liner notes by Martyn Pepperell
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
"A mesmerizing Japanese ambient techno masterpiece that that completely rewires how you perceive music" Electronic Beats
"A mountainous Masterpiece. A powerful testament to rave culture's establishment and the birth of a new scene in Japan emerging in the mid '90s. One of Yokota's most celebrated work that merges Japanese new age and minimal techno"
Alex From Tokyo (Japan Vibrations, world famous, Paris)
GENRE/S: Techno, Acid, Ambient
New liner notes by Alex From Tokyo
On July 26th Susumu Yokota's venerated 1994 classic 'Acid Mt. Fuji' is reissued in expanded, deluxe fashion, as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the label that originally presented it. Japan's Musicmine - specifically it's electronic subsidiary Sublime Records - released the album on June 29th 1994, simultaneously with Ken Ishii's 'Reference To Difference', as their inaugural joint offering.
'Acid Mt. Fuji' is an enchanting mix of mystical ambient acid and futurist minimal techno, taking the listeners on a psychedelic pilgrimage, where 303, synths and electronic percussion are scented with reverb, echo and forest recordings. Merging Japanese new age and sparse electronica, the recording is free, organic, and energized - proffering a unique blend of early 90s western styles and the essence of his home country.
Yokota originally planned an ambient record, but 'Acid Mt. Fuji' evolved into a concept work featuring the Roland TB-303, which he recorded live at home alongside a sampler, yielding experimental and innovative results.
The longplayer found its muse in the famed 18th-19th century artist Hokusai's red rendition of Mt. Fuji, known as 'Red Fuji' or 'Akafuji'. Part of the painter's renowned 'Thirty Six Views of Mt. Fuji' series from the 1830s, 'Red Fuji' depicts the iconic sacred mountain aglow in red at dawn, symbolizing spirituality and creativity. With references to Japanese folklore, nature and shrines, tracks like 'Kinoko' and 'Meijijingu' invite the listener to immerse themselves in the album's spiritual depths.
Yokota's own homage-to-Hokusai drawing graces the record's cover, and was inspired by the concept of wa (harmony) - highlighting his diverse skills not only as a musician, but an artist and designer too.
'Acid Mt. Fuji' is a powerful testament to the establishment of rave culture in Japan, which rapidly developed within just two years, from 1992 to 1994. Largely due to praise for the breathtaking originality of the LP, within this burgeoning national techno scene, Yokota rose to prominence as one of its key figures.
He then became one of the most renowned artists to emerge from his homeland and enter the global electronic pantheon. He inspired a new wave of Japanese producers and DJs, contributing significantly to the growth of the techno movement in Japan.
Yokota was a solitary figure, an artist who expressed his life through the continuous creation of music. For those seeking something different; mystical, soothing, pristinely ergonomic and uniquely Japanese, this record stands as iconic as Mt. Fuji itself.
-
This triple vinyl Deluxe Edition includes the original album's eleven tracks alongside five raw and jacking rare gems, available on wax for the first time, which were previously included only in the Japanese 2016 Deluxe Edition CD.
There are also two digital-only bonus tracks. One is a live performance by Yokota, titled 'Live at Shibuya Beam Hall', which was recorded at Sublime Records' label launch party, held in September 1994. It was previously only released on the aforementioned 2016 Japanese CD edition. This event, titled 'Sublime Records Presents New Style of Electronic Ambient Party' featured performances by Susumu Yokota, Ken Ishii, Yoshihiro Sawasaki, Speedy J and DJ Wada. This ten minute long, rare live recording captures Yokota playing a dynamic, fast paced acid house live jam, using two TB-303s and a drum machine. The other digital only bonus track is an alternative version of 'H', which was discovered recently whilst excavating a DAT.
The liner notes are written by DJ/producer Alex From Tokyo, who was a good friend of Yokota, and experienced the 90s Tokyo club scene first-hand as an insider. His compilation 'Japan Vibrations Vol. 1' captures this golden era, and features music by Prism (Susumu Yokota), Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono, Yasuaki Shimizu, Quadra (Hiroshi Watanabe) and more.
3LP Vinyl
Catalogue no: MMDS24004LP
Side A
1. Zenmai (2024 Remaster)
2. Kinoko (2024 Remaster)
3. Meijijingu (2024 Remaster)
Side B
1. Saboten (2024 Remaster)
2. Oh My God (2024 Remaster)
3. Tambarin (2024 Remaster)
Side C
1. Oponchi (2024 Remaster)
2. Ao-oni (2024 Remaster)
3. Akafuji (2024 Remaster)
Side D
1. Alphaville (2024 Remaster)
2. Tanuki (2024 Remaster)
Side E
1. Floating G (2024 Remaster)**
2. H (2024 Remaster)**
3. B (2024 Remaster)**
Side F
1. F (2024 Remaster)**
2. 2 H (2024 Remaster)**
**= 5 unreleased tracks released for the 1st time on vinyl.
New liner notes by Martyn Pepperell
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - The Vamp
2
Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - Twenty One
3
Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - No Title
4
Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - Back To Rack
5
Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - High Jack
6
Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - The Ground For Peace
7
Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - Head Rock
*Pressed on clear red vinyl
*Housed in a gatefold jacket
*With obi
*Extensive liner notes by Yusuke Ogawa (Universounds/Deep Jazz Reality) in Japanese and English translation
*Originally released in 1970
A heretical masterpiece with an overwhelming presence in the history of Japanese jazz. Jiro Inagaki was one of the central figures in the development of jazz rock in Japan. Inagaki, who had doubts about the existing jazz music, turned the helm to jazz-rock at once with this album recorded in 1970. From the opening track "The Vamp" to the closing "Head Rock," Inagaki poured all his ideas and passion into this jazz-rock album that leaves no time to exhale.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
*Housed in a gatefold jacket
*With obi
*Extensive liner notes by Yusuke Ogawa (Universounds/Deep Jazz Reality) in Japanese and English translation
*Originally released in 1970
A heretical masterpiece with an overwhelming presence in the history of Japanese jazz. Jiro Inagaki was one of the central figures in the development of jazz rock in Japan. Inagaki, who had doubts about the existing jazz music, turned the helm to jazz-rock at once with this album recorded in 1970. From the opening track "The Vamp" to the closing "Head Rock," Inagaki poured all his ideas and passion into this jazz-rock album that leaves no time to exhale.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Label:WRWTFWW
Cat-No:WRWTFWW118
Release-Date:26.09.2025
Genre:Electronic, Electronica
Configuration:LP Excl
Label:WRWTFWW
Cat-No:WRWTFWW118
Release-Date:26.09.2025
Genre:Electronic, Electronica
Configuration:LP Excl
1
Throwing Shapes - Calyx
2
Throwing Shapes - Meant to Say
3
Throwing Shapes - Sonnoh
4
Throwing Shapes - Chosen Talk
5
Throwing Shapes - So and So
6
Throwing Shapes - Clearly Faded
7
Throwing Shapes - Leave it Out
8
Throwing Shapes - Lo and Behold
Territories: WORLD
LP: Limited Edition, Heavyweight Sleeve, Poster, Sticker
Tracklisting LP
A1. Calyx
A2. Meant to Say
A3. Sonnoh
B1. Chosen Talk
B2. So and So
B3. Clearly Faded
B4. Leave it Out
B5. Lo and Behold
Info
WRWTFWW Records is happy to announce the self-titled debut from Throwing Shapes, a new collaborative project featuring harpist Méabh McKenna, percussionist Ross Chaney, and label mainstay composer/producer Gareth Quinn Redmond. The immersive electronic meets traditional album is available on limited-edition LP housed in a heavyweight sleeve and including a beautiful mini-poster designed by artwork creator Stina Sandström. It is also available digitally.
A hypnotic, texturally rich exploration in sound led by the striking timbre of the Irish wire strung harp, Throwing Shapes weaves intricate instrumental tapestries with ambitious electronic synthesis and arrangements. The result is an immersive soundscape that feels rooted yet experiential and through which a unique vocabulary emerges - cinematic harp driven avant electronic conjuring lush sonic worlds that evoke both heritage and futurism.
Gareth Quinn Redmond's previous albums, Laistigh Den Ghleo, a ode to the work of Satoshi Ashikawa, Umcheol, mixing ambient with traditional Irish music instruments, his tape loops wonder Ar Ais Arís, and his collaborative effort with Albert Karch, Warszawa, are still available on WRWTFWW Records - complete the collection…again and again!
Points of interests
- For fans of ambient, minimalism, environmental, experimental, electro-acoustic, traditional Irish instruments, synth, cinematic harptronica, Satoshi Ashikawa, Erik Satie, Midori Takada, Albrt Karch, ambient supergroups, mini posters inside record sleeves, heritage, futurism, and meditative journeys.
- Super limited edition vinyl of Méabh McKenna, Ross Chaney, and Gareth Quinn Redmond collaborative effort Throwing Shapes with an artwork by Stina Sandström.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
LP: Limited Edition, Heavyweight Sleeve, Poster, Sticker
Tracklisting LP
A1. Calyx
A2. Meant to Say
A3. Sonnoh
B1. Chosen Talk
B2. So and So
B3. Clearly Faded
B4. Leave it Out
B5. Lo and Behold
Info
WRWTFWW Records is happy to announce the self-titled debut from Throwing Shapes, a new collaborative project featuring harpist Méabh McKenna, percussionist Ross Chaney, and label mainstay composer/producer Gareth Quinn Redmond. The immersive electronic meets traditional album is available on limited-edition LP housed in a heavyweight sleeve and including a beautiful mini-poster designed by artwork creator Stina Sandström. It is also available digitally.
A hypnotic, texturally rich exploration in sound led by the striking timbre of the Irish wire strung harp, Throwing Shapes weaves intricate instrumental tapestries with ambitious electronic synthesis and arrangements. The result is an immersive soundscape that feels rooted yet experiential and through which a unique vocabulary emerges - cinematic harp driven avant electronic conjuring lush sonic worlds that evoke both heritage and futurism.
Gareth Quinn Redmond's previous albums, Laistigh Den Ghleo, a ode to the work of Satoshi Ashikawa, Umcheol, mixing ambient with traditional Irish music instruments, his tape loops wonder Ar Ais Arís, and his collaborative effort with Albert Karch, Warszawa, are still available on WRWTFWW Records - complete the collection…again and again!
Points of interests
- For fans of ambient, minimalism, environmental, experimental, electro-acoustic, traditional Irish instruments, synth, cinematic harptronica, Satoshi Ashikawa, Erik Satie, Midori Takada, Albrt Karch, ambient supergroups, mini posters inside record sleeves, heritage, futurism, and meditative journeys.
- Super limited edition vinyl of Méabh McKenna, Ross Chaney, and Gareth Quinn Redmond collaborative effort Throwing Shapes with an artwork by Stina Sandström.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More