MUSIC

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.

Emerging from Boston’s fertile 1970s underground, La Peste were the city’s first true punk band — bridging the gap between its proto-punk roots and the hardcore and college rock scenes that followed. I Don’t Know Right From Wrong finally tells their story in full, gathering long-lost recordings alongside the group’s only official release, the Better Off Dead 7”. This set includes material from multiple sessions: their 1978 recordings produced by The Cars’ Ric Ocasek, an additional 1978 session at Electro Acoustic Studios, and rough-edged 4-track loft tapes captured by fellow Boston punks Billy Daffodil and Dave Cola in 1977. Every track bursts with the intensity that once electrified New England clubs — huge riffs, driving rhythms, and Peter Dayton’s howling vocals at the front of the storm. As writer Marc Masters notes, these songs “come flying out of the speakers, fun and intense and so full of barely-contained energy that you’ll feel like you just injected caffeine.” More than four decades on, I Don’t Know Right From Wrong stands as a thrilling testament to La Peste’s place at the dawn of American punk.

In the midst of a series of great domestic new age/ambient reissues this year, including works by Mkwaju Ensemble, Motohiko Hamase, and Joe Hisaishi, here comes the long awaited pure ambient masterpiece! The monumental 1983 debut album by Inoyama Land, a synthesizer unit formed by Makoto Inoue and Yasushi Yamashita, former members of the still active techno-pop and avant-garde group Hikashu, has been digitally mixed down from the original multi-track tapes. The original 1983 album was digitally mixed down from the original multitrack tapes and reissued for the first time in 35 years.

The original 1983 album was released on MEDIUM, a subsidiary of the YEN label hosted by Haruomi Hosono. The original version of the album was released in 1983 on MEDIUM, a YEN label owned by Haruomi Hosono. The original version was known to be one of the most sought after by enthusiasts around the world, and both the LP and CD versions were extremely expensive. The origin of the album title comes from a childhood memory of Yamashita's friend playing with the song "Dan jin dan posidon! The title of the album was taken from the scene where Yamashita's friends used to play while saying "Dan jin dan posidon! The album was recorded using the "Water Delay System," a method devised by Hosono in which microphones and speakers are installed in a tank of water to create a unique, crystal-clear sound. From the ambient sounds colored by meditative synth layers, to the lovely home recordings, to the premature electronica feel, to the occasional avant-wave appearance, this is a masterpiece of originality and a playful piece of work. This is the pinnacle of unique music that lies somewhere between new wave and ambient. This is a masterpiece that is highly recommended for all environmental music and new age fans, including Hiroshi Yoshimura, Midori Takada, Yumiko Morioka and others!

In the 1980s, there was a unique music in between new wave and ambient. In the 1980's, there was a unique music between new wave and ambient, and Japanese music released in that period is now being heard around the world. Inoyamaland is one of the rarest of them all, and has not been forgotten. I was still involved in the release of the album 35 years ago, but the submission of the lost homework was a fresh surprise. The strange comfort of the region called Inoyamaland, like listening to a weather report, has not changed.
Harumi Hosono, July 11, 2018

Back in print ! What exactly happened in the Italian underground / post punk scene 30 years ago, is not entirely clear. Therefore, this collection of 13 incredible tunes helps track down the feeling and focuses on the blurry images of a period that was mixing influences from the UK/USA scenes with a more national' approach to new music developments. The damage began in 1977 when a series of urban / suburban musical agitators, whether skilled or complete amateurs, decided to embrace instruments as weapons for a war against sonic stereotypes. Here's the result: a multiform sonic attack that marks the history of a movement that may have remained local in most cases but whose echo reflected the amazing creativity of a generation.

New Age Steppers" is the first release from UK dub genius Adrian Sherwood's ON-U SOUND label. The project, which brought together 17 of the foremost artists of the time such as the Pop Group, Slits, and Creation Level, with Adrian at the center, created an unprecedented sound that went far beyond the categories of rock, punk, new wave, reggae, and dub. This is the first vinyl reissue in 40 years of a classic album that undoubtedly represented the 80's scene and is still appreciated for its innovation year after year!

Alum of Belgium’s legendary Insane Music series and Hawai’s ’SNX’ boxset, Patrick Stas takes his Stroom bow with a posthumous archival survey of melancholic delicacies made under multiple pseudonyms. The haunting work of Patrick Stas (1995-2020) is emblematic of the early ‘80s Belgian tape scene’s creative fecundity and dare-to-differ DIY discipline. As a musician and co-founder of tape label Home Produkt, he was a key part of a home-brewed movement whose rhizomic organisation forged links between outlier artists across the region and would naturally lay the roots for independent, experimental musicks to follow. Although originally intended for release in 2018, ‘If Paul K .'s Life Was a Movie, This Would Be the Soundtrack of His Death’ sadly sees the light of day as a posthumous dedication to his personalised oeuvre as Stas passed away in late 2020, leaving these 10 songs as spellbinding testament to a creative life well lived. Pulled from exceedingly rare cassettes and unreleased demos, the cherry-picked goods spell out Stas’ web of styles spanning gloaming post-punk goth with early band General Thî et les fourmis to his wavey organ dub as Albert Et Guido and solo kinks under the Paul K alias. Each imparts a fine flavour of various aspects to Stas’ musical personalities, but linked by a puckered taste for neo-gothic lowlands vibes that resonate his peers such as Bene Gesserit, Tara Cross or Enno Velthuys and share a certain twist of foggy nostalgia for Belgian ballrooms that dials up comparison to noted mayo admirer Leyland Kirby in his Intrigue & Stuff phase, even with protoplasmic traces of new beat in its slow pacing typical of Belgian dance music.

This solo debut album was self-produced and released in 1984, following the hiatus of Guernica. Including the title track on the theme of female menstruation and "Mushi no Onna (Pupa Woman)," a baroque song (Pachelbel's Canon) with lyrics written by herself, this album fully expressed her one-of-a-kind worldview and catapulted her to the status of queen of the 80's subculture. Even today, it remains a classic in the history of Japanese women's rock music.

Originally released in 2011 and ultimately the swan song of the band’s core lineup, In the Grace Of Your Love marked a reset for The Rapture and a welcome return to DFA, the label that helped them make their instantly seminal debut, Echoes.The momentum and success of those years led to a major label roller coaster ride that dumped them right back where they started, scars to show but now free to push beyond the boundaries of expectation.Guiding them there was the late, great Philippe Zdar, one-half of French dance duo Cassius and producer for the likes of Phoenix and the Beastie Boys. Zdar’s enthusiasm and technical prowess are audible within the record’s first 30 seconds: “Sail Away” is the Rapture gone widescreen and radiant, a five-minute long exhale with disco drums.There is, of course, plenty of fodder for the dance kids - “How Deep Is Your Love” still slams barroom dance floors in New York City, “Miss You” is a bit of irresistible minor-key mischief - but overall the feeling is one of slowing down, taking stock, searching for meaning and love in more right places than wrong.Ergo, its finale: “It Takes Time To Be a Man,” a charmingly honest, piano-plonked song about taking responsibility and helping others. It sounds like absolutely nothing else in the Rapture’s catalog and yet also perfectly ends it. Credits roll, time goes on, records still mean everything.

Duori is an imaginary word. It combines the ideas “dentro” (inside) and “fuori (outside) invoking a place between. Heith and Tarawangsawelas met in Bandung in 2017, since then their collaboration has been evolving, both in person and remotely. The result is ‘Duori’ an album of 5th world music in low data mode that travelled inside lost and found portable recorders, on defunct hard drives and expired e-sim cards. Recording and arranging songs over a long period of time and across a vast geographical distance has lent their practice a distinct character. This distance allows the possibility to see things from different perspectives and creates music that hovers both inside the Sundanese Land, and outside of it, both on the European continent and not. This record carries compositions from one side of the globe to the other, catching spirits and energies from different places, societies and rituals. Their first sketches were influenced while witnessing the Reak ceremonies in Bandung and they were recorded at Tesla Manaf (Kuntari) studio in Bandung. They found inspiration on nights spent at the jaipong clubs, smoking cigarettes and talking about ghosts. The songs then developed while on tours around Europe, playing separately and together. Their song titles are in Indonesian, Italian and English, underling the linguistic shapeshifting of the project, and showing how any linguistic barrier was surpassed by a strong spiritual connection between them as artists. This record is also the story of a friendship, a spiritual bond that goes beyond the differences in their backgrounds and practices. A bond that redefines geographies and creates new psycho-geographies.

Junko Tange's second and final album is a minimalistic, phantasmagoric masterpiece of distant, dreamlike voices woven through pulsating, dubbed-out drum machines, synths and static, originally issued by Osaka's Vanity Records in 1981. Did this unassuming dental student (who vanished from the music world following this release) inadvertently invent dub techno? You be the judge. Label head Yuzuru Agi said this was his favorite Vanity release, and it's not hard to see why. Remastered by Stephan Mathieu from brand new transfers of the miraculously well preserved original analog tapes, this fully authorized 2LP (@45rpm) is the definitive edition of this landmark electronic work. Packaged in a deluxe, gatefold Stoughton tip-on jacket.

Released in 1982 on Trumpett, the Colonial Vipers cassette offered an extensive snapshot of the Dutch home-taping scene at its creative peak. One of the earliest compilations of its kind, it brought together a diverse array of underground artists, nearly all contributing exclusive tracks. For this reissue, 13 of these rare pieces have been carefully selected, highlighting the experimental energy that defined the era. Naturally, it features core Trumpett artists Ende Shneafliet, capturing the spirit of the early ‘80s experimentation with their otherworldly minimal synth composition and Doxa Sinistra, blending cold wave and electronics in ways that remain strikingly fresh today. Also present are acts such as Van Kaye & Ignit, Nice Circles and The Actor, whose minimal and infectious tracks epitomize the DIY synth ethos of the period. Additional contributors like Genetic Factor, Det Wiehl, De Fabriek and Muziekkamer offer textured, atmospheric pieces that blur the line between the avant-garde and concrete industrial sound works. For the first time ever on vinyl, this revised edition preserves the energy, eerie atmospheres and mechanical beats that made the original cassette a hidden gem of the European underground. Carefully mastered to ensure every nuance of these pioneering tracks is fully realized, it is a must-have for minimal wave enthusiasts and anyone fascinated by the innovative sounds of the early Dutch post-punk scene.

Another cassette-only mixtape taking in Soviet punk selections, 1985 to 1992, issued in partnership with Philadelphia's World Gone Mad.

A special cassette-only Halloween drop in the form of part one of a two-part Japanese post-punk, goth & new wave mixtape, the first in a tranche of globally-focused mixes reissued in partnership with Philadelphia’s punk archivists World Gone Mad.

ITALIA SYNTHETICA 2025 features a FRED VENTURA curated selection of unreleased tracks from a collective of Italian artists and producers who have long been influential in the electronic underground scene. These musicians continue to push boundaries and explore new frontiers within electro, synth-pop, and new wave.

LP version on CLEAR vinyl in PVC sleeve with double-sided printed clear plastic insert. CD version is the mini replica of the vinyl version, in slim plastic case with clear insert.

“Love Will Tear Us Apart” should have been the band’s most shining moment…instead it became their tragic swan song. Released just a month after frontman Ian Curtis’ heart wrenching suicide, the song came to be seen as the unheeded warning of the impending tragedy.

This special edition LP features all three versions of the song that transformed Joy Division from mere band into legend. In addition to the original single version, we have two versions remixed by American producers Don Gehman of John Mellencamp fame (the “radio version”) and Arthur Baker (who also produced a hit single for Africa Bambaataa around this same time).

The remaining tracks include “These Days” (which appeared on the original “Love Will Tear Us Apart” single), along with “Transmission” (their debut single released in 1979) and “Atmosphere” (originally released as a France-only single) in 1980.

Formed in Hakata before relocating to Tokyo in 1984, Akebonojirushi quickly established themselves as one of the most adventurous acts in Japan’s underground music scene. The six-piece band defied easy categorization, blending sharp-edged New Wave textures with the groove and freedom of Funk-Jazz, then distilling it all into daring, unpredictable Pop songs. Originally released in 1987 on the influential DIW label, Paradise Mambo captured the energy of a vibrant era when Japanese musicians were fearlessly expanding the boundaries of sound. Brimming with angular rhythms, infectious basslines, and a playful yet avant-garde spirit, the album remains a shining document of 80s Japanese postmodernism—both accessible and experimental, danceable yet completely uncompromising. Now reintroduced to a new generation of listeners, Paradise Mambo stands not only as a time capsule of the bubbling Tokyo music scene of the late 80s, but also as a timeless example of bold creativity. This reissue shines a spotlight on a band that deserves renewed recognition for their adventurous vision and genre-blurring artistry.

An alternative sound born in the gap between digital dancehall and the UK underground’s experimental currents. Active in the mid-to-late 1980s and based in Britain, Reducer narrowly missed signing to On-U Sound and left little behind, yet reportedly had Downwards’ Regis enthralled at the time. A legendary post-punk/industrial reggae band, their long-lost recordings finally surface: a powerful three-track single on Bristol’s leftfield institution Bokeh Versions. Included is the 1986 discomix version of the era-defining riddim “Sleng Teng,” radically reimagined. Built around the Casio MT-40 preset that sparked the digital dancehall revolution, these tracks vividly evoke the atmosphere of sound system culture. Repetitive rhythms and low-end sway merge with a contemporary sensibility, preserving the original innovation while extending it into a more elongated, psychedelic form of ecstasy. An essential update to a monument of the digital revolution—indispensable for all devotees of reggae, dub, and dancehall alike.

A legendary yet long lost crown jewel from the early 80s
Japanese Electronic and Jazz Rock scene.

MARIAH used to be a Japanese outfit in the field of art pop, long way back in the very late 70s and early 80s with 6 albums up
their score from 1979 to 1983. The album at hand is the sixth and for the time being last album in this row, released as a double
vinyl back in 1983. Prices for original copies, that are at least in very good condition, are hard to find and go up to 250 Euro/USD.
The brandnew reissue on Everland, unlike the original and the first vinyl reissue from 2015, comes housed in a thick and artfully
designed gatefold sleeve with OBI, which finally does justice to the progressive spirit of the music you can find here.
The musical basement is a fusion of dreamy synthesizer pop and haunting new wave music, that could be found all around
the globe back in 1983. In the vein of TEARS FOR FEARS or more adventurous DAVID BOWIE stuff, with a touch of KRAFTWERK or
even BRIAN ENO here and there, but all this gets spiced up with an atmosphere of Japanese traditionalism, with a few bits and
pieces from the old music from this Far East island, which sounds so magic us Westeners. The progressive, wacky art pop of this
project was led by the popular Japanese composer and musician Yasuaki Shimizu, a relentlessly exploratory saxophonist who
even dared to rework Johann Sebastian Bach’s cello suites for saxophone.
As brilliant as this man is, the music on „Utakata No Hibi“ turns out to be. And the master himself approved and much
appreciated the brandnew remastering of this album by assisting a highly professional team of sound engineers who dusted off
the ancient tape reels. For certain the record sounds and feels 80s through and through, electronic to the very rhythmical bone
of each song sugar coated with catchy melodies that resemble Japanese classic and Enka music, which is a kind of folksy pop
music. The listener gets directly drawn into a feverish dream of steaming Far Eastern cities and their darkest and most depraved
corners where you find everything cheap in sleazy bars and unlighted backyards and alleys. The next moment he strolls through
a beautiful Japanese park surrounded by a sea of blossoms. This change in mood and style you will experience in the sparsely
instrumented tune „Shisen“, which indeed comes closest to classic Japanese folk tunes without any too catchy and pop oriented
melodies. But we certainly find these harmonies allover the album. Some tunes even feel like ancient BEACH BOYS compositions
and Brian Wilson creations played by a then contemporary electronic pop act and sung in Japanese.
An amazingly colorful album with songs that are based on solid substance rather than cheap pop structures. This is music for
the bold listeners and music lovers and this awesome reissue should quickly find it’s way into the record collections of 80s synth
and art pop aficionadoes.
Yasuaki Shimizu did what he wanted with MARIAH, pushed the borders of popular music further than anybody would have
thought. Listen to a track like „Shonen“ with a repetitive rhythm pattern that hypnotizes you and somehow silky melodylines by
saxophone and synth piano upon which a female voice sings in a very spiritual way. Praising pop or whatever this can be called,
it is sheer magic put in music. I wonder if this would have made it into the charts back then, but you never know. It is a piece of
musical art that shall be listened to. 

Veego Records re-issues the cult 1984 french electronic LP from Loukas Thanos.

"Veego Records proudly presents the first-ever vinyl reissue of Jazzburger by Lucas Thanos. The title track “Jazzburger,” rediscovered through Dekmantel’s Profondo Nero compilation, blends cold minimal synths, slow-motion disco, and eerie cinematic tension, featuring the ghostly vocals of Idyli Tsaliki.

Includes 2 previously unreleased tracks, an early demo version of Jazzburger as well as a demo of Μόνο ένα Λεπτό. The reissue also includes “Break,” probably the first rap song ever recorded in Greece, echoing the electro-funk style of Egyptian Lover, and “Set on Fire,” a pure slice of French disco elegance.

A rare collection that bridges Italo Disco, New Wave, minimal wave, and early European electronic experimentation, Jazzburger is a long-lost time capsule brought back to life for a new generation of listeners."

Tokyo’s Studio Mule reissue a pair of city pop fancies sought-after since their original 1989 release, evoking to our ears Tomo Akikawabaya via Lewis.

“A long-awaited reissue of an ultra-rare 7-inch single, originally released as a promo-only item from handsome boy, the 1990 masterpiece by Inoue Yosui—widely regarded as one of the greatest singer-songwriters in Japanese music history.

“Pi Po Pa,” arranged by Haruomi Hosono and used in a tv commercial at the time, was featured on Heisei No Oto, a compilation released by Music From Memory. The album’s standout track, “Shonen Jidai,” remains one of Japan’s most iconic and beloved songs.

Also included on this 7-inch is “Yume Migokochi,” a pinnacle of Japanese balearic sound, arranged by Yuji Kawashima—keyboardist of EP-4, a Kyoto-based band essential to the history of Japanese new wave.

Exclusive to this release is “Kurenai Suberi,” an overlooked gem that might best be described as Inoue’s take on cold-funk.”

roduced and engineered by Jah Wobble at home in his bedroom (hence the title), the album was originally released in spring 1983, showing a different side in the bass player evolution. His proper 2nd album after a major label stint with Virgin - for his debut - and the stratospheric collaborations with Holger Czukay & The Edge. A mystical hybrid of dub fusion, ethereal wave and global beat, still ahead of his time.

Emotional Response is delighted to present Aaron Coyes (Peaking Lights / Leisure Connection) new project, as Exotic Gardens. An additional music universe as his love of dub expands to include new wave, goth and acid psychedelics across 5 catchy, bass heavy songs.

While the continuing journey of his duo band, Peaking Lights, with his wife Indra, earns plaudits and fans alike, his early years as a one-man lysergic music polymath that saw his youth in punk and hardcore bands, expanded during a mid-90s burst of “living in San Francisco” creative expansion, devouring music, genres, and influences for life.

Started as a sub-project to Peaking Lights and his personal dub excursions, Exotic Gardens pollinates a rich tapestry. Recording through the pandemic in their then home in Amsterdam, before being archived, assembled, and completed following the move back ‘home’ to the West Coast, California.

Re-embracing that love of his inner goth, the analogue warmth is all there, now featuring Coyes’ dub-languidity of stripped drum machines, widescreen bass, haunting guitar lines and an almost idle voice to peddle true, raw songs.

Combined, the pop layer of hooks and tight grooves instantly catch you. Opener and EP title, Drugs & TV is the perfect anthem for the Exotic Gardens sound, before the “dubwave” of Last Of The Light and Tonite shimmer that yearning melancholy of youth.

In the almost 10 minute dub house opus Organize Your Movement an appreciation and understanding of the psychoactive properties of the Roland 303 and 909, they also hark to a love of Industrial / Noise bands, a lineage from the death pulse of his cult project Rahdunes through to Sound Design and Sound System culture to the pop-dub psychedelics with Indra, now melded here to include a dark assault, whispering invocations and pulsing pads.

To close, Turn It On is a roaming multi-genre evocation, an exotic end from this constant troubadour, cassette junkie, record dealer, sound system builder, always looking to get back on the road, to live to roam.

“I turn it on, you lose your mind’.

“Après-midi” by TESTPATTERN is a refined slice of early 1980s Japanese synthpop and technopop, produced by Haruomi Hosono. Blending minimal electronics with urban sophistication, it captures the experimental spirit of the YEN label era. A cult favorite among fans of YMO and avant-pop aesthetics.

" dean blunt & Elias Rønnenfelt - lucre LP. Single-sided, 180g vinyl "