The fourth of four EP's being released for the upcoming full-length record "Being Empty : Being Filled" Two brand new Listener songs. Limited edition (500 copies) 7' white vinyl record.

Es ist geschafft. "Return to Struggleville", "Wooden Heart" und "Time is a Machine" sind wiederveröffentlicht und 300 verkaufte Platten am ersten Tag der Pre-Order sprechen für die Notwendigkeit und das Interesse an dieser Ausnahmeband. Ich bin im Grunde ja kein Freund von Re-Releases, aber diese Band hat es mir angetan und seid dem Wegbrechen von HOT WATER MUSIC gibt es keinen wirklichen Ersatz im großen Feld des rockigen Emopunks. Nicht, das LISTENER Hot Water Music kopieren würden, im Gegenteil. Nur fällt mir gerade kein besserer Verweis ein. Sie selbst nennen es Talkmusic, Dan Smith erzählt mit eindringlichem Gesang Geschichten über das Leben und das Scheitern. Für mich hat es viel von altem Beatjazz gepaart mit 90er Jahre Hardcorepunk. LISTENER sind derzeit auf Tour, und die beiden Shows, denen ich beiwohnen durfte, waren groß. Um so wichtiger ein Artwork zu finden, was perfekt die Musik verkörpert. Das Cover besteht mit Gmund Treasury Traditional, aus einem der edelsten Feinpapiere weltweit , die Motive von Greg Coulton wurden nicht gedruckt, sondern Atom für Atom aus dem Papier gelasert. Die Dauer für dieses Verfahren beläuft sich auf ca. 22 Minuten pro Exemplar. Und so wiederspiegeln die Narben im Papier, die Narben des Lebens über die Dan singt.

Re-Press Third studio album from US three piece, Listener. As with their previous two records, Time Is A Machine marks a definite shift in Listener's sound, particularly evident with the introduction of Kris Rochelle on drums. Musically this is a more powerful rock and roll driven record, coupled with ambient post rock moments and carefully layered instrumentation. Dan Smith deliberates strong poems about our human emotional tendencies dealing with hopes, hurts, and fears in his distinctively unique vocal style. You can separate underground music fans into people who have heard of LISTENER and those who haven’t. LISTENER is releasing their third album, Time is a Machine, and people everywhere are crying on cliff edges and carving their ex-lovers names into tree trunks in anticipation. What started as Dan Smiths’ solo hip-hop project in 1991 has morphed into a band that undertakes classic DIY-style tours, playing basements and private living rooms and bookstores, sending audience members running out in tears with their intensely personal lyrics. Once you hear this Fayeteville, Arkansas band, you will obsessively play songs, over-analyze lyrics and realize the words apply to all the frustrating, sad and mystifying areas of your life. You have been warned. Thrusting a particularly fervent and confrontational sound that Dan Smith, Christin Nelson and Kris Rochelle term “talk music,” LISTENER is poetry over sound. Lyrics are laden with heartbreaking images: a wooden heart, wrecking balls, dams overflowing. This is Rainier Maria Rilke and Sylvia Plath by way of the American South. LISTENER’s second album, Wooden Heart (2010) brought them wider recognition, with the title track reminding us “we only have what we remember” over a yearning pedal steel. Dan’s Appalachian-influenced accent doesn’t so much sing as spit, shout, demand, yell and plead with you to see and accept the obvious. LISTENER’s sound has no equivalent, but the band has the energy early punk like Ian Mckaye projects MINOR THREAT and EMBRACE mixed the post-hardcore sound you would expect from MEWITHOUTYOU. The songs often have classic guitar tones coupled with intense and forcible horns. The rising and crashing crescendos are comparable to NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL, it’s sort of like a marching band run amok but still melodic enough to be relatable. This LP sees the band reflecting on the passage of time. LISTENER hasn’t sacrificed any of the edge and scariness that characterized earlier releases, but they are moving in a more pensive direction; the album is awash with quieter moments, amidst the sonic assaults. The album crashes into your heart with Eyes to the Ground for a Change, which has Wild West style guitar, like a saloon showdown that will end with everyone slumping over in defeat. Not Today is a fully-formed song: more approachable and traditional in terms of structure. The album features Dan’s gorgeous lyrics: Good News First asks for the good news first “to numb the pain.” Tornadoes reflects that you “didn’t leave/didn’t give up,” prescient in the light of the recent tragic tornado in Oklahoma. Everything Sleeps shows the more hopeful and positive tone of the album, telling us “If we give everything we have /every single time /everything we have every single time we may get to live/ what’s next.” For LISTENER fans, the answer is obvious. (NBHAP / Kika Jonsson)

Es ist geschafft. "Return to Struggleville", "Wooden Heart" und "Time is a Machine" sind wiederveröffentlicht und 300 verkaufte Platten am ersten Tag der Pre-Order sprechen für die Notwendigkeit und das Interesse an dieser Ausnahmeband. Ich bin im Grunde ja kein Freund von Re-Releases, aber diese Band hat es mir angetan und seid dem Wegbrechen von HOT WATER MUSIC gibt es keinen wirklichen Ersatz im großen Feld des rockigen Emopunks. Nicht, das LISTENER Hot Water Music kopieren würden, im Gegenteil. Nur fällt mir gerade kein besserer Verweis ein. Sie selbst nennen es Talkmusic, Dan Smith erzählt mit eindringlichem Gesang Geschichten über das Leben und das Scheitern. Für mich hat es viel von altem Beatjazz gepaart mit 90er Jahre Hardcorepunk. LISTENER sind derzeit auf Tour, und die beiden Shows, denen ich beiwohnen durfte, waren groß. Um so wichtiger ein Artwork zu finden, was perfekt die Musik verkörpert. Das Cover besteht mit Gmund Treasury Traditional, aus einem der edelsten Feinpapiere weltweit , die Motive von Greg Coulton wurden nicht gedruckt, sondern Atom für Atom aus dem Papier gelasert. Die Dauer für dieses Verfahren beläuft sich auf ca. 22 Minuten pro Exemplar. Und so wiederspiegeln die Narben im Papier, die Narben des Lebens über die Dan singt.

Re-Press Second studio album from (then) talk-music duo, Listener; Wooden Heart is a concept album that loosely draws it's framework from the popular children's tale The Never Ending Story, with each song having an alternate title that corresponds with characters, places and things from the story. Overall a more delicate affair it's predecessor, the album features 11 heartfelt songs that combine delicate and considered instrumentation with the trademark vocal delivery and vivid poetry of Dan Smith. Unlike anything you will have heard. Originally self released in July 2010, this album is re-issued on deluxe coloured vinyl.

Es ist geschafft. "Return to Struggleville", "Wooden Heart" und "Time is a Machine" sind wiederveröffentlicht und 300 verkaufte Platten am ersten Tag der Pre-Order sprechen für die Notwendigkeit und das Interesse an dieser Ausnahmeband. Ich bin im Grunde ja kein Freund von Re-Releases, aber diese Band hat es mir angetan und seid dem Wegbrechen von HOT WATER MUSIC gibt es keinen wirklichen Ersatz im großen Feld des rockigen Emopunks. Nicht, das LISTENER Hot Water Music kopieren würden, im Gegenteil. Nur fällt mir gerade kein besserer Verweis ein. Sie selbst nennen es Talkmusic, Dan Smith erzählt mit eindringlichem Gesang Geschichten über das Leben und das Scheitern. Für mich hat es viel von altem Beatjazz gepaart mit 90er Jahre Hardcorepunk. LISTENER sind derzeit auf Tour, und die beiden Shows, denen ich beiwohnen durfte, waren groß. Um so wichtiger ein Artwork zu finden, was perfekt die Musik verkörpert. Das Cover besteht mit Gmund Treasury Traditional, aus einem der edelsten Feinpapiere weltweit , die Motive von Greg Coulton wurden nicht gedruckt, sondern Atom für Atom aus dem Papier gelasert. Die Dauer für dieses Verfahren beläuft sich auf ca. 22 Minuten pro Exemplar. Und so wiederspiegeln die Narben im Papier, die Narben des Lebens über die Dan singt.

Die Aschenbecher im Musikkeller werden kalt. Niemand hustet, das Bier schmeckt schal, und der in Zeitlupe drehenden Discokugel fehlen die Pailletten. Nur ein kleines Leuchtschild scheint auf den Tresen. Tonight: LO FAT ORCHESTRA – New Wave HIT-MACHINE from Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Die Band – drei Männer mit einem Sinn für runde Melodien – macht sich zu einer Geisterfahrt auf. „I‘m not your dancer“, singt Chrisi Schmid, der Sänger hinter dem mächtigen Synthesizer, der die Texte schreibt, ohne sie aufzuschreiben. „I‘m not your fucker.“ Ich bin nicht deine Marionette, du Clown. Das ist die Essenz des neuen Lo-Fat-Albums „LFO_09“, das acht Songs beinhaltet. Dass der Name des Albums genauso gut von einem Ufo stammen könnte, ist konsequent. Man muss nicht dazugehören oder cool sein wollen, um cool zu sein. Im Zweifel für den Zweifel. „I was afraid to talk to you“, singt Chrisi im Song „Sound“, und sein Synthie hüpft einen wilden Tanz. „I was afraid I won‘t like you. And I didn‘t want to be like you.“ Eine Gitarre braucht die Band noch immer nicht. Der Bass arbeitet für zwei (neuer Bassist ist Dominic Rubli). Schlagzeuger Daniel Zimmermann wechselt scheinbar mühelos zwischen Karacho, Balladeskem und Fliessband. „Love is for free“, singt Chrisi in der wundervollen Ballade „Good Times“. „This place is killing me.“

You cannot help but wonder how they keep on doing it! Just to make sure, "Neon Lights" is of course still 100 per cent Lo Fat Orchestra, hugely catchy and danceable, groovy but still tough, raw and self reflective. 3 years have passed since their last release and many things have changed in the Swiss trio. First, the bass is now played by Roman (of "Deadverse" fame) and further has the Lo Fat Orchestra sound been expanded yet again. Many new elements and nuances were added, which brings us directly to the hits of the album. "Bankrupt Democracy" is EBM at it's best, scarily close to the best from the heyday of the genre. "Stop diggin the ground" on the other hand is a dancefloor smash hit, really groovy but still edgy, making it impossible even for non-dancers not to tab your foot to it. The sheer range of their music, their artful weaving and playing with sounds make Lo Fat Orchestra unique, you might even go as far as to call them the innvators of independent dance music. Check it out yourself, there's lots to discover.

There‘s no other band having the fusion of Disco and Sixties Punk down pat like this Swiss-based three-piece on their second album “Questions for Honey”. A comparative description wouldn’t do these lads justice, so let’s just say: the Oblivians play Gershon Kingsley’s Über-Hit “Popcorn”, or Yello do a cover version of The Monks. You know what I mean, don’t you? It’s definitely Garage, but they generously left the guitars in Detroit to leave more room for development of the organ, the driving bass, the drum section and the vocals, which latently dither between hysteria and lasciviousness. That’s why the whole thing doesn’t sound like simplistic Garage, rather it’s all about the groove. In detail, it’s a trip through musical history: from 60’s Beat to Soul, from Trash to Pop and Noise, coupled with chilly New Wave beats. This music is best enjoyed hanging around in bad company. It turns even the smallest pad into a smoke-filled red light district dive bar, where beer is only used to wash down hard liquor shots. Minimal-Beat played by existentialists for existentialists. But don’t worry, these cats don’t engage in window-dressing by recycling retro sounds. Instead, Lo Fat Orchestra filtrate the essence of the particular styles and bring them back together – and that’s what makes “Questions for Honey” suspense-packed to the very last note.

Touredition des neuen Albums. Kommt im Stoffbeutel mit langen Trägern, mit Button und Stickern.

Late-night drinking at the bar: beer and schnapps were flowing, but the rumors were rather irritating: according to drummer Zimmermann and bassist Strohmeier, the new Lo Fat Orchestra record would feature a children’s choir and a string quartet. Immediately, terrifying notions of “The Wall”, concept album bombast and art rock-crap sprang into one’s mind, fondly hoping this was just an expression of the infamous “Black Forest sense of humor”. Now “The Second Word Is Love” is released. There are no children’s choirs but choirs nonetheless and there’s a string quartet of course. All misgivings crumble in a heartbeat, once the bass-drum of the opening track “Be Honest” pounds out, the electricity rustles and sings through the air before the sawtooth-bass, Schmid’s vocals and the organ set in. All is well! All is better! All is: more! On “The Second Word Is Love”, there are more catchy space-melodies, more beats, which also work in the Electro-Disco (“Don’t Talk To Me), more Noise, more updated Motown, more outer-space drone, more bulldozer bass riffs (“I’m So Happy I Could Cry”), more tiramisu-style layered melodies, with atmospheric noise, with shreds from the sound effect device theme park, with more melody topping and there is Gospel from the Garage and, by the way: more guitar (Guitar? Guitar!). So, what’s happening here? For their third album, unlike both of their sublime previous records, Schmid, Strohmeier and Zimmermann decided not to record live. Instead, they lodged themselves into Markus Heinzel’s Liquid Studio in Freiburg and took some time recording. Great decision! “The Second Word Is Love” became an instant classic. It’s packed with brute and crunchy hits that will play “Occupy brainsterm” with you, but there are sprawling, colossal songs as well: a killer record, that you will play to your kids in 20 years time (and they will jump up and down on your sofa, cheering). The world of Lo-Fat just got bigger, more colorful and more complex. But the musical ménage a trois between the Black Forest and Schaffhausen does know that electronically amplified music is all about reduction and repetition. Nothing is flamboyant, bombast is strictly prohibited – Lo Fat is the keyword. The title already gives a clue: “The Second Word Is Love” revolves around affairs of the heart, it’s about love – no longer coming first, but still being ubiquitous – about (self-) hatred, betrayal, loss and fragile happiness. The emotional state is unstable and the music defends itself vigorously against everything falling apart. By the way: the song with the string quartet is called “Going With The Punks”. It’s the definite highlight of the LP. And it will break your heart.

Lo Fat Orchestra have done everything right with " We need you", their latest release, and further keep on perfecting their synthesis of pop and noise. While you could enjoy their previous albums at home or in a convertible, for these four numbers you immediately wish to be in a club, by 3 clock at night, in the midst of a narcotic, omitted dancing crowd with a drink, that yet has to be invented and that in no time shoots you to ambient level. On their new EP the three guys again get along completely without guitars and confine themselves to the essentials: Fat drums and bass sounds, covered with a decent, distorted Farfisa carpet and great Casio melodies. Fortunately, Lo Fat Orchestra still have that certain something, and do not spend time dealing with music that the masses understand at the time. And yet their secret is very simple: You never know when hearing if you are in the past, the present or the future. Supersonic Rock meets movie credits tunes. And at the first hearing one wants to say about this as about any release of the Lo Fat Orchestra: "I like it, but the former album was much better." But every time you catch yourself by no later than the third hearing in saying the opposite.

Meine Kleine Deutsche are a phenomenon. Founded in 2002 by Maria „Mia“ Johansson and Patrik Boman, they are sort of the godfathers of Scandinavian Electroclash. It is a well known fact, that the art of computer-aided music-making is flourishing in Northern Europe – at least since the major success of The Knife or Aavikko. With their latest effort “Before people forget sound”, the third album of the Stockholm-based band is available now. It took three years to puzzle-over and fine-tune the sound, to draft and discard and to recreate. Furthermore they called for back-up bringing in Max Groundstroem (Sons of Cyrus, Holiday Fun Club) on guitar and Topi The Kat (Sons of Cyrus, Front de Boeuf) on drums. While the first two records were still dominated by a fury à la Bikini Kill, the third album is infused with melancholic reflectiveness. Now Electroclash is on everyone’s lips not only since yesterday, but what does Meine Kleine Deutsche do differently than all the other bands? The answer is plain and simple: their notion of Punk doesn’t start in 1977, but rather kicks off in 1967 and embraces The Monks just as well as the Velvet Underground. It refers to a time when the creative potential wasn’t limited to “Hey-Ho” and leather jackets, but rather took minimization – rage, sorrow, joy and despair – to give utterance to a completely new form of art. Surely, the most memorable stylistic features are the catchy, shifting vocals by Mia and Patrik, which fluctuate between sweet and weird, between evenly and disturbing. Once again, Meine Kleine Deutsche are breaking fresh ground and chafe at the boundaries of Punk, Electro, Garage and Pop. And: they’ve got something to say! Not only does it sound exciting, but it makes “Before People Forget Sound” a unique record.

Two summers and two winters have passed since the last record by this three-piece from Stockholm. The left hand path that was pursued on „Before People Forget Sound“ is steadily kept on „Body Me“. Meine kleine Deutsche are still grinding on the edges of punk, electro and pop with dark lyrics about busted love, a bad moon rising and young, sudden-death. In a world full of empty truisms it´s their desolate form of quest for meaning that distinguishes Meine kleine Deutsche’s works and unfolds it´s full momentum. In times, in which a misunderstood and misused concept of melancholy is romanticised as the ductus of free development, this kind of self-deprecation is an appropriate remedy against everyday phrasemongering.

Wild and crazy, danceable and swinging, Meine Kleine Deutsche stamps out boredom by grabbing it at the jugular. Auf Gutdeusch: Harte Elektrobeats, mehrstimmiger Gesang, fette Fuzzgitarre, fertig ist Elektropunk der besten Sorte. Begeisternd, zumindest für die Leute, die sich vor dem Aufweichen der Grenzen zwischen Punk und Elektronik nicht fürchten.

Limited All Analog Remastering Recording This is one my most beloved albums ... it always reminds me of the horror that occurred in my homeland, Ukraine, in 1933. And I am always thankful when I hear it. It is good to remember the suffering of other people ! Otherwise, life is not worth living..... This album came about in an interesting way .... there came to me a melody at some point that year ... I was not even at the piano .... a melody that I just began to sing ... When I played it on the piano for my friend, the artist Dmitri Farkavec, he right away loved it and suggested that it would be a great opening for a piece dedicated to the multi-millions of Ukrainians who suffered a terrible and deliberate extinction at the hands of the Russians who had invaded my country. As he said to me, "1983 is the 50 year commemoration of the Terror Famine --- it would be a good year to make this piece." And so it came to be ! "CONCERT-REQUIEM" is dedicated to the over seven million Ukrainians who were killed by the Forced Starvation of 1933 who watched in agony as Communist police destroyed grain as they and their children lay starving to death. This album also contains "ISLANDS" for solo piano --- a remarkable bass-oriented piece depicting enormous masses of mystical and murky islands moving through an imaginary sea.. It was inspired by and created for a dance performance by Windwitches of Stockholm. Original Release: 1984 Limited All Analog Remastering Recording

Lubomyr Melnyk is a Ukrainian pianist and composer. Through his pioneering work in the 1970’s, he developed the technique of “Continuous Music” for piano, and with it a stunning new language for the instrument, based on its actual sound. By way of this new technique, he set several world- records on the piano, notably in Sweden in 1985 where he was recorded playing at over 19.5 notes per second – a speed that has never yet been matched, making him the fastest pianist in the world. Since the mid-1970’s, he has performed concerts with his music world-wide as well as radio recordings. Most of his works are for piano solo and duo, although there exist several works for orchestra and various ensembles. While his revolutionary piano playing was mostly ignored by the classical institutions in its early years, his music is gaining an ever-wider international awareness. This album features five recent works, that display the beauty and magic and virtuosity of his playing.

Strong Limited All Analog Direct Cut Recording & Acetat

" In 1978 I arrived for my first time to Sweden, to the town of Lund .. and there I met a remarkable man named Jean Sellem who ran a tiny gallery in the middle of the town, "The Galleri St.Petri: Dedicated To Modern Art and Thought "... and he was one of the few and first people who saw the greatness and beauty of Continuous Music .. and since I was a complete "unknown" at that time, I really needed his moral support ! --- and he created with me, the idea of a huge work for multiple pianos ... three pianos .. in stages ... and it became as he had envisioned ! and was first performed on a small upright piano in 1978 in his gallery, and the piece was called THE LUND.St.PETRI SYPMPHONY .. becuase it was so symphonic in grandeur (once the three pianos came together ...) The Lund - St. Petri Symphony, from 1979, is the second album from Lubomyr Melnyk and the first composition for double piano which he released. In this work, the early minimalist tendencies which played such a major part in the emergence of Continuous music, are very significant and clearly evident. This Double LP set sold out within 1 year of production, Only 1000 copies were made. Original Release: 1980 Limited All Analog Remastering Recording

"Reading Tolkein´s LORD OF THE RINGS saga was one of the greatest experiences of my life ... his amazing talent for words was mindboggling ... and the great topics he touched upon remain forever as the most important topics of life ... they are still most valid today .. and will be for all eternity. Everything he described through his magical words came to life before my eyes ! So it was most natural that he would inspire music within me ... music that I can not describe in words how it relates to the Saga .. but deep inside me, it all shines clear as a lamp-post on a dark street ... and it shines into my soul in many, many dimensions....." .... and on a technical note, this piece marked the first time I created Arpegge Melodies within Continuous Music !" In the ”Song of Galadriel” Lubomyr Melnyk has created one of the great epics of piano music in our century, a work of visionary character, filled with haunting and delicate melodies that evoke the mystical world of Tolkein's ”Lord Of The Rings”. Arthur Rankin Original Release: 1983 Limited All Analog Remastering Recording 29 min, per side

Das gab es vorher noch nicht und lässt jedes Sammlerherz höher schlagen. Eine Platte mit fantastische Lentigular-Artwork (diese Wackelbildchen was man sonst von DisneyComickarten kennt) . Musikalisch gibt´s das erwartet geniale Gipfeltreffen mit dem fiesen Keyboard-Punkrock-Noise-Bastard der Bremer Chung (Ex-Party Diktator) und den chaotischen Hysterie-Anfall-Noisespazzsound der kleinen Japanerinnen, letztere mit 3 Songs, Chung mit 4en, exklusiv versteht sich

You can spend a long time talking or writing about the significance of a Special Edition. To some it’s the color of the vinyl, to others it’s a variant cover. To some it’s a means to make a pile of money, to others it’s a way to pay tribute to the band and to highlight their achievements. We at Sounds of Subterrania surely like to be associated with the latter. With the creation of this milestone we’re well on our way of becoming “the godfather of special packaging in conjunction with a vinyl record”. The box is made of solid wood with The Monsters integrated as a wildly popular sliding puzzle. The first edition is limited to 100 copies. Should this fly off the shelves, we’re well prepared to do a second serving.

SoS Version of this Masterpiece!