MUSIC

DFA no doubt owes a very large part of its existence to the incredible, indelible Liquid Liquid, so it is with great and humble honor that we release this 12” from the New York no wave legends, a double a-side package featuring sorta-new versions of classic Liquids tracks. This torrential take on “Bellhead” was recorded and produced by James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy in 2004 and originally appeared on DFA”s “Compilation #2.” It’s an all-timer percussion workout, bursting at the seams with marimba, drums, and, yes, all manner of bells, a far cry for the see-saw slouch of the original. The other side is a heretofore unreleased instrumental remix of “Optimo,” which (bear with us here) was rerecorded by the Liquids in 2008 and then remixed by Optimo (Espacio), the Glaswegian duo who are named in tribute to the song in question. If you followed that, then you know. If not, just remember that we’re all showing up here because of how important and essential this band remains.

Since his recording debut as Choir Boy in 2016, Adam Klopp has crafted nostalgic anthems, tapping the sound of swirling 1980s synth noir and captivating, cinematic songs sweeping with pensive sorrow and glowing hope. As a former member of the Mormon faith, Klopp spent his youth both in the pews of his place of worship, but also churning through DIY punk venues, before leaving the sect in the thick of a mission in Tahiti. The duality of faith and fiction are central to the lush explorations on his debut album Passive With Desire. Recorded at Provo, Utah's Studio Studio Dada, the album's tracks permuted as bedroom sketches, awash with camp, the sting of loss, and allusions to halcyon days of nocturnal, electronic driven pop. Retaining elements of Klopp's original demos, Passive With Desire was recorded with a full band and polished with trumpet, strings, as well as archival samples calling back to Klopp's hazy youth. Engineered by Klopp, Bret Meisenbach, and Stephen Cope, Passive With Desire is the entry point to Choir Boy's world of emotive wit, novella kissed lyricism, and bouncy, synth-forward takes on traditional song writing bound by the universal themes of loss, desire, evolution, and exploration.

Released in 1990, Heaven or Las Vegas was the band's most commercially successful release, reaching number seven in the UK album charts. Numerous publications have since declared it one of the best albums of the 90s, Pitchfork calling it “a core of ungodly gorgeous songs that is every bit as moving and relevant today as it ever was.” Label founder Ivo Watts-Russell goes further, candidly revealing in the recent 4AD biography, Facing The Other Way, that this album wasn’t just his favourite Cocteaus album but also his favourite all-time 4AD album, and “by a long shot”, calling it “the perfect record.”

This seminal, eponymous post-punk album by Japanese group Aunt Sally, fronted by experimental singer Phew, was first released by the iconic Vanity Records label in 1979. Over the past forty-plus years, Phew has forged a singular path through a wide range of styles - from free improvisation to pop - and has collaborated with the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto, members of Can, DAF, Einstürzende Neubauten, The Raincoats and more. But Aunt Sally is where she got her start and, despite the members’ young ages (still in college at the time), Phew and the band delivered a mature, timeless take on minimalistic punk. Remastered from the original analog tapes, this fully authorized reissue.

The eminently watchable Accidental Meetings introduce extended family member, Lovely Dave, with a real guess-again mixtape (the first in a series) refracting myriad strains of blissed synths, outernational jazz, new wave pop, post punk scuzz, screwed club and dub Six years into Accidental Meetings’ serendipitous plot, we know to expect anything and everything from the Bristol label, so long as it's got a unique soul and does not bore. Lovely Dave ideally plays true to that brief on his 99 minute mixtape, effortlessly glyding from outernational synth folk to a killer Curtis Mayfield cover via everything from thumb piano meditations, jazz-funked sidewinders, and a proto-new beat bomb on the A-side, before swerving from gothic new wave to smudged minimal wave audities, a pitch-slapped batacuda house ace, and meter-messing skronk on the backside. Brilliantly strange but true!

CHBB was a project by Beate Bartel and Chris Haas that developed from their collaboration in 1981, while working on the self-titled album 'Liaisons Dangereuses‘. They released their music only on four limited cassettes. This compilation presents the complete works of CHBB, including all recordings from their original cassettes alongside previously unreleased tracks produced by both artists.

Originally released in 1982, Kakashi is another high water mark in the 80s Japanese underground. This album, which has gathered cult status in recent years, is the project of musical visionary Yasuaki Shimizu, and considered to be a highlight of his solo career. Shimizu was the bandleader of Mariah, who also saw their album Utakata No Hibi reissued by Palto Flats in 2015. Kakashi offers a similar blend of saxophone experimentations, jazz fusion and ambient dub excursions.

"People who are sort of more the outcasts of society tend to tell it like it is" – Scott Seskind, 2015. Sky Girl is a mysteriously unshakeable companion, a deeply melancholic and sentimental journey through folk-pop, new wave and art music micro presses that span 1961-1991. A seemingly disparate suite of selections of forgotten fables by more or less neverknowns, Sky Girl forms a beautifully coherent and utterly sublime whole deftly compiled by French collectors DJ Sundae and Julien Dechery. From Scott Seskind's adolescent musical road movie to Karen Marks' icy Oz-wave, the charming DIY storytelling of Italian-American go-getter Joe Tossini and the ethereal slow dance themes of Parisian artists Nini Raviolette and Hugo Weris, Sky Girl resonates on a wide spectrum historically, geographically and stylistically. It unites in a singular, longing, almost intangible ambience. If the names sound wholly unfamiliar that doesn't matter, the nature of the compositions swiftly nurtures an intimacy with these lonely, poignant, openhearted wanderers. Most were available in a very limited capacity at the time of their release, some were never really released at all - Gary Davenport declined to release Sarra after he split with the girl for whom the track is named - years later a friend convinced Davenport to allow him to put 100 copies online to sell and DJ Sundae was quick enough to snare one. Beyond their scarcity, these tracks are bound together by a certain raw beauty that's achievable when music is made and no one is listening. Sky Girl comprises of fifteen officially licensed songs, a two year international scavenger hunt through long-folded home label operations, the depths of internet forums and traceless acetates. Both compilers are well trained record sleuths - DJ Sundae's labels Hollie and Idle Press have reissued Arthur Russell affiliate Nirosta Steel and DIY relic Pitch, while Julien Dechery previously compiled 'Fire Star', a retrospective on Tamil film composer Ilaiyaraaja, for Bombay Connection. Released by Noise In My Head offshoot Efficient Space, Sky Girl is enriched with artwork from Perks and Mini mutant Misha Hollenbach and appropriately elegant sleeve notes courtesy of Ivan Smagghe.

Dedicated to the memory of Sean Edward Stewart (6.2.81 - 18.3.10) Produced by HTRK Mixed by Nigel Yang Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Cover wave image by Trent Mitchell Polaroid by Eulalie Fumond Halperin-Katz, Paris 2009 Sleeve design by JCS Thanks: Mark, Gloria, Tia, Andrea, Conrad, Jeremy, Max, Julia, Andrew ℗​ 2011 Blast First Petite (UK) | Mistletone (AU) | Ghostly International (US)

Japan’s distinctive punk and new wave scene emerged with the arrival of the “Tokyo Rockers” movement in 1978, led by musicians who had come of age within the underground rock culture of the 1970s. As that scene faded, these artists — energised by the shock of London and New York punk scenes — launched a last, defiant charge that crystallised as "Tokyo Rockers". From the beginning, many "Tokyo Rockers" musicians were deeply drawn to reggae. They listened voraciously to reggae records, especially dub, and even when they were not performing reggae outright, dub-informed ideas permeated their sound. Throughout the evolution from punk to new wave, reggae was absorbed naturally by the musicians at the center of the scene. Yet the connection between these genres was rarely acknowledged in Japan’s music media. In this sense, the creation of this compilation marks a truly groundbreaking moment as it may well offer a new lens through which to view the history of Japanese rock. "Japanese New Wave On Dub" takes a deep dive into the relatively unsung heroes of this culturally unique moment throughout it's first 5 years of maturation. 12 tracks that will embellish the record collection of any true music lover, a beautifully documented piece of niche Japanese underground culture from the firs half of the 80's, faithfully put together by Yuzo Iwata.

Rough Trade Records release Volume 2 of seven-inch singles boxset.

Nine disc set includes repressings of handpicked 1980s and 1990s releases from The Fall, Scritti Politti, Robert Wyatt, Aztec Camera, The Go-Betweens, Jonathan Richman, The Sundays and Mazzy Star

Additionally The Smiths’ The Headmaster Ritual becomes a Rough Trade single especially for this release at Morrissey and Marr’s request, with unique b-side plus new artwork from Morrissey

Sleeve notes feature new interviews with Rough Trade co-MDs Jeannette Lee and Geoff Travis, plus contributions from Elvis Costello, Harriet Wheeler, Anton Corbijn, Stewart Lee and more.

Rough Trade Records release a second volume of their acclaimed boxset series tracing some of the key seven-inch singles in the independent label’s history.

Following the first set which came out last year and focused on the indie’s first few years of existence, Volume 2 will feature nine seven-inch singles from the 1980s to the early 1990s, marking the period when Rough Trade came of age as a label.

Handpicked by Rough Trade’s co-MDs, Jeannette Lee and Geoff Travis, the tracks represent a mix of key releases and personal favourites.

Starting with The Fall’s 1980 Totally Wired, Scritti Politti's The Sweetest Girl, Robert Wyatt's Shipbuilding, Aztec Camera’s Oblivious, The Go Betweens' Cattle and Cane, Jonathan Richman's That Summer Feeling and The Sundays' Can’t Be Sure have all been repressed on seven-inch, including b-sides, as they were released by the label at the time.

Mazzy Star’s cover of Love’s Five String Serenade, which appeared on Rough Trade’s single’s club in 1993, appears as the original release, but its b-side has been switched at Lee and Travis’ request for David Roback and Hope Sandoval’s version of Slap Happy’s Blue Flower to create a unique “covers release”.

In addition to these original releases, Volume 2 also boasts a ninth, ‘new’ single which has been created at the request of members of The Smiths, and will only be available in this edition. Although it was released in Netherlands, The Headmaster Ritual had never been an official Rough Trade single until now.

At Morrissey and Marr’s request the track from Meat Is Murder is backed by I Want The One I Can’t Have as its b-side, while Morrissey has overseen the creation of brand new artwork for the seven-inch. In keeping with his use of found art for The Smiths’ singles, he sourced an image of the American actor Billy Halop from 1939 especially for this single.

Both band members have contributed to the sleeve notes that accompany Volume 2, which also includes contributions from Elvis Costello, Stewart Lee, Roddy Frame, Green Gartside, Jonathan Richman, The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler, David Gavurin and The Go-Betweens’ Lindy Morrison and Robert Forster. Plus, there is a brand new, extensive interview with Travis and Lee, who discuss the label during the 80s and 90s, the music and their collaborations with the artists featured.

The sleeve notes also contain memorabilia and imagery from the Rough Trade archive, along with contributions from Anton Corbijn, Laura Levine, Paul Slattery, David Corio and more, who photographed the artists at the time.

Like its predecessor Volume 1 – which included singes from Augustus Pablo, Young Marble Giants, Cabaret Voltaire, The Raincoats and more – this second Rough Trade seven-inch boxset is strictly limited to 1000 copies worldwide.

Tracklisting:

7" - RT056 - 1980

The Fall - "Totally Wired"

B-Side: "Putta Block"

7" - RT091 - 1981

Scritti Politti - "The Sweetest Girl"

B-side: "Lions After Slumber"

7" RT115 - 1982

Robert Wyatt - "Shipbuilding"

B-Side "Memories of You"

7" - RT122 - 1983

Aztec Camera - "Oblivious"

B-Side "Orchid Girl"

7" - RT124 - 1983

The Go Betweens - "Cattle and Cane"

B-Side: "Heaven Says"

7" - RT152 - 1984

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - "That Summer Feeling"

B-Side: "This Kind of Music"

7" - RT0507S - 2026

The Smiths - "The Headmaster Ritual"

B-Side "I Want the One I Can't Have"

(Originally released in the Netherlands 1985 with B-side Oscillate Wildly - new B-side for this release selected by the band)

7" - RT218 - 1989

The Sundays - "Can't Be Sure"

B-Side: "I Kicked a Boy"

7" - 45rev19x – 1983

Mazzy Star "Blue Flower"

B-Side: Mazzy Star  Five String Serenade

(the single was originally released with B-side Under My Car, but has been changed at Rough Trade’s request for this edition)

Brenda Ray, who became famous for the new roots rock reggae "Walatta" that became the best seller in the 2000s, has been active since the post-punk / New Wave era, and is based in Liverpool and Manchester, the Slits and pop groups. , New Age Steppers (who interacted with A. Sherwood), etc., played reggae / dub / punk / rock crossover cutting-edge music. She has an outstanding sense of POP, and in the mid-1980s she released her works as a solo in Virgin and other places in the UK. That "Walatta" was an album like Brenda's solo career collection "after".

This work "Duya Here Me! (Hearing !?) ”is a collection of early masterpieces before“ Walatta ”.

The recorded song is a sound source of the band era that was active under the name of Naafi Sandwich / Naffi Sandwich or Naffi, and the release at that time was exclusively DIY cassette tape and 7 inches. They weren't formed as a live band, they were a unit that left the idea to record and produce their work.
In this comp, you can listen to another world of "Walatta", which has a strong influence of Jamaican music on rhythm and method, but "I didn't want to play reggae and wanted to" Dub-up "(= dub version). I wanted to do it) ”as their sound, playing reggae crossover.
The title song "D'ya Hear Me!" Is a POP tune of D.I.Y soul explosion recorded on a 4-tiger teleco using a rhythm box. Heavy and cute reggae crossover such as "Naffi Take Away" and "Krazee Music", de deep and dark roots reggae-style instrument "Spring Thing- Hippy Dread", "Walatta" popular song "Starlight" original song ( !) "Moon beams", Young Marble Giants-style "Everyday Just Another Dream", unreleased original long version, etc. Finally, a demo of "D'Ya Hear Me!" That she "excavated" this time is recorded. Highly recommended for post-punk / Neo Acoustic fans! !!

Side A
1. 自分のことだけ考えよう (Remixed by Cornelius)
2. Flow (Remixed by YANN TOMITA  ”A BRAND NEW CADILLAC AND ETERNAL LIFE MIX”)

Released on Cherry Red in 1981, Threat To Creation spotted the collaboration between two mystical entities : Creation Rebel and New Age Steppers. Forerunners of the british dub scene the two bands shared several members, a who’s who of the On U-Sound school and key figures of the Bristol and London scene. Adrian Sherwood is – obviously – the man behind the desk a craftsman on its own, a character with no borders and one of the most sought after producer of the time. The supergroup is ran by post-punk stalwarts Bruce Smith (The Pop Group) on drums and Keith Levene (PIL) on guitar. Ari Up of The Slits sits on piano and organ, while masters Crucial Tony is both on bass and guitars. Members of African Head Charge – bass player George Oban, Eskimo Fox and Style Scott on drums – are welcomed addition to the line-up. Threat To Creation is still recognizable as an album ahead of its time, a futuristic blend filling the gap between the Jamaican heritage, the so-called (post) industrial revolution and the studio witchery of the whitey man.

Through the dense blend of Japanese New-Wave, between moldy kimonos and punctured paper screens, along the rails of a sonic bullet train, this mini-LP reaches us, overflowing with purebred Punk-Funk, splinters of Soul and shredded Jazz. A gold nugget in a sea of sadness. Scattered energy trapped in a handful of vinyl grooves.

From the depths of the most independent and revolutionary underground, a handful of tracks from the repertoires (often limited even to a single flexi disc) of some of the heroes who rode the wave, extracting from it—more for themselves and expressive necessity than for us—its most mystical and expressionist essence. New and No Wave, minimal and minimalist electronics, Avant Wave from the land where the sun still rises for now.

From the depths of the most independent and revolutionary underground, a handful of tracks from the repertoires (often limited even to a single flexi disc) of some of the heroes who rode the wave, extracting from it—more for themselves and expressive necessity than for us—its most mystical and expressionist essence. New and No Wave, minimal and minimalist electronics, Avant Wave from the land where the sun still rises for now.

First volume – thou the 2nd never happened – of this ongoing collaboration between post-punk stalwarts Cherry Red and home of the western dub On U Sound. Adrian Sherwood obviously sitting behind the desk and a cast of marvelous artist leading the way for a reggae renaissance. Stolen and contaminated songs, we may take this as a reference point for 12 unreleased tracks showing the best of the UK underground rhythms. A further development of the Jamaican heritage, with handmade electronics and a forward thinking production. Mothmen ‘Afghani Dub’ is one of the leading track here, with future members of Durutti Column and Simply Red on board, this is a mystical post-industrial trip through upbeat rhythms. Along the way you’ll find the over the top vocal performance of Judy Nylon – more akin to certain no wave expressionism – futuristic vibes from Sun Of Arqa, contribution from New age Steppers supergroup and Creation Rebel teaming up with the so-called Jamaican ‘Voice of Thunder’ Prince Far I. All in all a (natural) mystic experience. Fully remastered and licensed, ltd to 500 copies on 180 gr. Tracklist: Side A 1 Jah Woosh - Woodpecker Sound 2 Machine Gun Hogg & Co. - Bed Bound Saga 3 Prince Far I & Creation Rebel - Quanté Giubila 4 The Chicken Granny - Quit The Body 5 Alan Pellay - Parasitic Machine 6 London Underground - Dreams Are Better Side B 1 Suns Of Arqa - Asian Rebel 2 Alan Pellay - Demonic Forces 3 The Mothmen - Afghani Dub 4 Jeb Loy & The il Wells - Things that Made U.S. 5 New Age Steppers - Yipee I Aah 6 Judy Nylon - The Dice

Martin Rev’s fifth solo album – Strangeworld – was released on the cusp of the new millennium. The label responsible was Puu, a Finnish imprint belonging to Tommi Grönlund and Mika Vainio’s Sähkö Recordings which came to fame in the 1990s on the strength of its uncompromising minimalist sound.
Four years earlier, in 1996, Rev had unleashed See Me Ridin, an album which surprised its listeners with keyboard melody sketches and distilled doo-wop compositions. It was also the first solo album to feature Martin Rev on vocals.
Strangeworld started where its predecessor left off. Melodic passages dissolved into a thicket of fragments and set pieces, coalescing in a celestial shimmer between rhythm loops and Rev’s voice, which assumed the role of an additional instrument rather than a standard singing part.

Pt. 2 of the 'Dub me crazy' series by Mad Professor. Reggae meets twisted electronics for wild dub trips! Originally released in 1982 on the same Ariwa imprint. True D.I.Y. business from this UK dub pioneer.

Minami Deutsch’s debut album is sated with an absolute love toward Krautrock and the driving Motorik beat. Minami Deutsch was formed by Kyotaro Miula (guitar, vocals, synthesizer) in Tokyo in 2014. Their sound is influenced by both their love for Krautrock legends such as Can and Neu!, and the band members being self-professed "repetition freaks" who heavily listen to minimal techno. The music proceeds straightforwardly with the Motorik beat (Hammer beat), devised by Klaus Dinger (Kraftwerk, Neu!), as its central axis. Humorous, yet bizarre Japanese lyrics are whispered over a hard, cold beat that is maniacally repeated, creating a pleasant ambience of electronic pulses drifting in space. Sharp guitar tones reminiscent of Michael Karoli (Can) occasionally explode into fuzz distortion, on the verge of collapse.

Recorded & mixed at Ariwa Sound Studio, Peckham Published by Ariwa Music. Track A2 "Fast Forward Into Dub": was used as a sample in the song "Blue Room" by The Orb.

Coming in October. A groundbreaking compilation album showcasing Japanese techno-pop for a new era—『TECHNO KAYŌ VOL. 1 - JAPANESE TECHNO POP 1981–1989』—compiled by none other than Dubby, one of Japan’s most renowned record diggers and the mastermind behind the influential record shop ONDAS (a key force in the post-obscure revival alongside Organic Music and Revelation Time), and Antal, head of Rush Hour. From the neo-classical/mutant funk gem “Last Battle” by Kazuo Ōtani (of SHOGUN fame), originally featured on the obscure film soundtrack Koiko no Mainichi, to the balearic house anthem “MicroWave” by Kyōko Koizumi—culled from the now-revered cult LP KOIZUMI IN THE HOUSE—this album masterfully weaves post-balearic and obscure city pop perspectives. A curated deep dive into the rich and underrated legacy of Japanese techno-pop, brought vividly to life in the context of 2025.

La Düsseldorf's debut album, formed by Klaus Dinger after the dissolution of NEU!, sublimated the experimental nature of Krautrock into a pop sensibility.

The tracks "La Düsseldorf," "Silver Cloud," and "Time" create a hypnotic and celebratory atmosphere through their repetitive motorik beat and shimmering synthesizers. The album is marked by the energetic vocals of Klaus Dinger and a sense of openness within its minimal structure.

Transcending the boundaries of German rock, this work radiates a genre-crossing appeal, where an art-rock perspective fuses with a DIY spirit. It stands as a symbol of Krautrock's evolution, continuing to shine brightly with a freshness that influenced later new wave and techno music.