[engl] 315 copies – Screenprint & stamped cover + Download code Nearly 5 years after their last EP, it's perfect day as the winter solciste to present you the new icy Mini-LP 6 tracks of KOLD FRONT, now as duo, PostPunk/Coldwave from Copenhagen. (MRR review: Lovely femme-led post-punk/coldwave album from Copenhagen’s KOLD FRONT. The duo presents six songs, only one of which is under four minutes (and just barely), giving plenty of meditative noise-space that turns into a snare-driven fantasy ride. The album’s ominous, reverb-chamber guitar and drum machine theme stands alone in ”Interlude,” and despite the general allergic reaction to the instrumental, I think it works here. My favorite track is the closer, ”Did You Wish to Die”—it’s dream pop vocals float over their signature, desperate sound, while being slow enough to contemplate the title, which comes as a statement, not a question. If you’re looking for something moody to chew on, look no further. Symphony of Destruction bags another keeper.)

[engl] Their 4th installment of high-quality synthies punk is exactly what you wished for. KOMPLIKATIONS don‘t get boring. They get bored. And these new songs might be even more intense than ever.

[engl] KOMPLIKATIONS fifth release is yet another 12" that proves they just don't run out of great melodies, awesome harmonies, smart lyrics and aggressive dance beats. No Good News starts with synthesizers that sound like a car with engine troubles but don't get fooled - these 5 songs will take you on a wild ride through a mixture of emotions. Joy, hate, disbelief, frustration and mourning. No guitar, no bass, just synthesizer, drums and vocals. Still Punk as fuck!

[engl] Evolution? Revolution? Devolution? There is no certainty about the vector of Kurws’ music. The way from the debut Dziura w Getcie to Alarm leads from a primitive sophistication to sophisticated primitiveness. It is a comic, from which the bubbles are being wiped out with each subsequent page, making it more abstract for some and a lot more concrete for others. More important than a genre or clear explanations here are the nerve, adventurousness and controlled instability of the line. It is these that complement the rest and create images and notions. Kurws speak little, but they throw the news of the world into the cogs of their machine made of nerves conjoined with instruments. In one gesture they reflect reality, challenge it and dodge. ‘Alarm’ is Kurws wrestling with their limitations. Doing splits in asynchronous performance, in expanding their patience and organising silence. There are escapements with the use of many layers, recording tracks with a tape recorder, taking advantage of tape’s physical imperfections. Kurws train in composition, improvisation and – which is relatively new – in casting spells on coincidence, riskily falling out of structures, evading their own habits. They form, lose and cover their tracks. Can you dance to this material? Of course you can, but it is not going to be either the well-remembered Tanz mit Kommune 1 or a clumsy dance with Colossus on clay legs. This time it is a dance on a volcano. Pascal Quignard has concluded that there is no sleep for hearing. This is why various devices to wake you up appeal to your ears. Sight can be turned away or covered by eyelids. You cannot switch hearing off, though. Kurws exploit this passivity of the ear to the fullest, yet doing so in defiance of the oppression encoded in the music. They use sonic violence in service for peace. They generate tension which releases and diffuses greater tensions. They are like the madman raving in the street that you listen to only to recognise your own fears, neuroses and frustrations. ‘Alarm’ is an alarming album for alarming times. You need to decide yourselves whether it is a fire alarm, a nuke alarm or no more (and no less) than a common alarm clock. Karol Paczkowski

[engl] Now this is wild! The mix of experimental instrumental punk, avant-garde, free jazz and improv from Poland is wonderfully aggressive. (The) Kurws formed in May 2008 as an unexpected result of a ping pong session. Since then they have pursued their own search, not so much in defined genres, but within the very foundations of rock, expression, and sound. It is a workshop where improvisation penetrates through composed material, a congealed form of the creation process. Armed with repetitions, recombinations, variations and contrasts, they frolic with memory and expectations. Post punk, krautrock, rock in opposition, funk, no wave – they present modes of playing, motives, and riffs we have heard time and time again in a totally different context, dissected from their original environment, placed side by side, used in a brand new manner, deconstructed and distilled.

[engl] In times when we are united by much, but still divided by more, music can get flayed for being reactionary, opportunistic or undeclared. Meanwhile, the Kurws, on their fourth album, put things clearly, namely head-on. “Fascia” is an album founded as much by the culture of anxiety as by their personal dreads. The affirmation and the fear of ambiguity are two heads of the same desire – and two driving forces behind these collected exercises in not giving up.

[engl] “The following story might be bullshit (drug use and memory enhancements) Years ago I was sitting at home staring into the middle distance and the phone on the wall rang (that should denote how long ago this was). On the other end was the booker from The Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, who had never called me before. She was excited about the show they had that night and was calling people to invite them. Apparently the night before a band called Laddio Bolocko had played and were so mesmerizing, so strong that they had offered them the next night, which was open. I was intrigued as no band had ever warranted this invite previously to my knowledge. This was new and exciting territory. I had my ass & ears handed to me that evening. Scorching, pummeling, deep waters ran over me as I stood, beer in hand, mouth open. My memory may be embellishing but I remember a sax as big as me, drums that were physically hanging on by a thread, and twin electric strings that reeled sinister sprites over my head in outwardly circular patterns. Aggressive, far out fractals burned in my brain. I had never seen anything like this band, and never have again. That’s why it’s so shocking to wait around all these years for someone to pick up the thread and re-release these 3 perfect recordings on LP for the first time…and still be waiting. So, I’m happy to announce, Castle Face is here with a 3xLP remedy. We’ve been working with all the original members of Laddio Bolocko and sifting through to put together this concise LP box set of what is arguably their strongest home studio recorded material. Included here (for the first time on wax) are “Strange Warmings of Laddio Bolocko”, “In Real Time” and “As If By Remote” Includes former members of Dazzling Killmen, Panicsville, the Psychic Paramount, and Mars Volta. For fans of Can, This Heat, The Residents, improvisation (really they are hard to compare, they are so singular in sound)” - John Dwyer

[engl] A genuine lost and unreleased full-length LP from one of the most mysterious figures of early Italian electronic sound and library music. A missing puzzle piece in the small discography of experimental tape and synthesiser music by the composer known only as Lamartine recorded (but never pressed) in 1974 by the archive that bought you the work of Daniela Casa and the wildest electronic experiments of Alessandroni, Giuliano Sorgini and Fabio Frizzi. Having sat in the can for over 40 years the similarities to the likes of Cluster, Tom Dissevelt and the Radiophonic workshop have yet to be recognised and celebrated. The name Lamartine was a true mystery of library history. In keeping with the habitual culture of library music the mononymous name Lamartine was very likely to be one of many creative nom de plumes designed to disguise the true identities of the artists – even the likes of Morricone and Bruno Nicolai had there own shrouded monikers (Leo Nichols and Leo Flag respectively). Having faded from the memories of the ex-employees of the defunct production music departments at CAM and RCA, the truth behind this uncelebrated electronic pioneer remained a mystery for over thirty years. As enthusiasts began to unravel the pseudonyms of other composers such as Tomassi and Alessandroni via cue sheets, invoices and interviews, suspicions around Lamartine being of non-Italian origin rose to the surface with rumours that he or she was most probably of German, Dutch or English decent due to his distinct similarities to artists like Kid Baltan from Holland, various electronic artists from the outskirts of the krautrock scene or British tape music composers such as Basil Kirchin or David Cain. All of whom had firm relationships with the international library music scene. Although most of the records made for the RCA 1000 series were also repackaged for syndication in France via the April Orchestra series, it was unusual that Cronache Dal Mondo didn’t benefit the same service, bringing into question the fact that Lamartine may have secretly been a big name artist legally contracted to exclusive territories or simply the author of music that was too challenging for wider consumption. Even searching for other unconfirmed aliases within the huge independent Italian library network, based of musical similarities or pure speculation, rendered little answers convincing unsatisfied fans that Lamartine had carefully covered his tracks or let the birds eat the breadcrumbs. It wasn’t until thirty years later that the Italian independent production music label Flipper – the parent company responsible for the imprints Union, Octopus, Flirt and Deneb amongst others – decided to digitise its catalogue that a gleam of hope via a sealed, misfiled master tape shone through the trees. While putting a small archive of back-up recordings through the baking (emulsifying) process the archiving team at Flipper found the name “Lamartine” written on a single tape box with the name Reportage and corresponding legal papers pertaining to a little known Italian conductor and composer for stage and popular song named Mr. Radicchi. Fabio Di Barri at Flipper accounts that throughout the extensive paperwork at Flipper the music of Radicchi or Lamartine was never licensed out for synchronisation and doesn’t appear on any of the associated labels discographies. “The music was never even pressed on to vinyl and the master tape remained in our store room for all these years,” he told Finders Keepers in 2013. “It’s lucky that it was stored correctly because many lost magnetic tapes are prone to damage or separation.” After cross-referencing track times and titles Fabio could also reveal the full name of the artist to be that of Odoardo (aka Eduardo) Radicchi – a senior member of the Italian music scene from the same generation as Nino Rota, Giorgio Gaslini and Gian Piero Reverberi. The common occurrence of the elder statesmen of Italian popular music coming out of retirement to make experimental music for library labels and film companies would be the basis of a handful of unsolved mysteries in Italian cinema. Even middle aged composers like Remigio Ducros and Vince Tempera had enjoyed commercial success in the pop world before finding more freedom working within film music or television. Composers such as Coriolano Gori and Giampiero Boneschi were other examples of Italian composers who would revitalise their careers in later life under the production/film music system. The late discovery of Reportage by Lamartine provides vintage electronic music enthusiasts with a wider vista of the development of the genre in Italy. The aforementioned names make up a small but closely associated and like-minded family of pioneers exploring a new direction with solo recordings in a very unique industrial capacity. Rendered in the hinterland between Italian cinema’s penchant for psychedelic rock and the onset of the synthesiser music and Italo disco movements later in the decade, these artists and their records represent the laboratory projects that researched the capacity of electronic music before it swept the nation’s media quite unlike anywhere else in the world. Lamartine – once an anonymous, dubious, genius in the library micro-genre – can now be named and recognised as a unique artist with a distinctive sound, adding new colours to the vibrant palette of Italian studio artists and painting a wider sonic picture of the evolution of Italian pop and film music and we believe to understand it. The Italian library liberation front keeps growing – the genre that keeps on giving. It’s time for artists like Lamartine to name and claim their places in electronic music history.

[engl] For their third album, Le Cercle des Mallissimalistes plays I tre angoli del continente by Faustina M. Todesco. The italian composer went from west to east, from activism to mysticism. Her body ended up in The Seine. Her music, though, still sail. Eerie drones and anxious rythm are timeless vessels.

[engl] Two atonally lurching and wobbling basses intertwine, overloaded with distortion. Drums and vocals, combined in one person, beat around wildly and jump courageously into the deep bass frequencies. Absurd noise between joy of playing, hysteria, invitation to a deadly duel and fits of laughter. The trio LE SINGE BLANC from Metz is ready to jump in your face with “bouncy psyche noise”. One crazy impact follows the next; they swapped the built-in shock absorbers for a trampoline in France. If you think about LIGHTNING BOLT, your synapses will probably pop out automatically, but you're getting closer to it. “Arrebato” is equal parts reckless and self-indulgent. (OX 169)

[engl] After 2006, when The Noble Folly of rock’n’roll saw the light of day, we all thought that this cd, volume three of the series Sex and Drugs and Rock’n’roll, was Trespassers W’s swansong. Individual members chose their own path and singer Cor Gout intensified his career as a writer of poetry, short stories, essays and (in 2021) a novel. Being the musician that he is, he surrounded some of his books with music: Muziek in zwart wit (Music in black and white) illustrated the interviews with Dutch jazz-musicians from the thirties, forties and fifties with songs, performed bij John and Annelies van Markwijk, Ab Bol, former Trespassers W-drummer Peter Bos and Cor Gout, that had made these old jazz-celebrities famous. His short stories and poems about his home town The Hague were extended with songs, poems and cabaret, performed by John van Markwijk, Peter Bos and Cor Gout under the moniker of Gekruld Haags (Curly Hague).* But blood appeared to be thicker than water, and in 2014 Trespassers W rose from its ashes with the one-sided lp One Sided Love Affair (2014), followed by the 7” Stowaway ep (2016) and the cd Ferrageau, an epic poem written by Cor Gout and put to music by Lukas Simonis and Frans Friederich, which Trespassers W released under the name of Trireem (2020). And, believe it or not, in our awkward corona days they managed to record a new lp/cd – in the Trespassers W-tradition a concept lp/cd –, called Koala and other metamorphoses. Let’s conclude this press release by establishing that since 2006 Trespassers W metamorphosed several times, but in these recreations de band never disappeared. On the contrary: it changed back into the elusive band it always had been.

[engl] The Berlin trio Levitations make an intense, feverish, raw-nerved form of post-punk, one that takes its cues from the genre’s ragged pioneers rather than the sleeker, more danceable acts that came later. The album’s title track is a burning headrush of a song, and you can check it out below. (stereogum) Levitations are a three piece post punk / garage band from berlin. The three girls formed in 2009 and after a 7" this is finally their debut LP. 9 songs of blistering dark post punk - somehow reminds of a mix between Super Wild Horse meets Kleenix or Lilliput. Raw and catchy at the same time

[engl] Liiek from Berlin are back with their second album. 11 new bass-driven groovy post punk hits. Think of Gang Of Four meets Q And Not U. Meets The Wire. Feat. Peeps of Pigeon, Ostseetraum, Aus etc.

[engl] Liiek is a new Postpunk band from Berlin feat. peeps of Pigeon, Benzin, Aus etc Think of Gang Of Four meets Q And Not U. ltd to 300 copies plus 50 Testpress versions

[engl] Hailing from the coastal town Brest in the far north-western corner of France LITOVSK deliver a fulminant and outstanding debut album. Eleven songs of dark and gloomy Postpunk/Wave. You could say, you've heard it before and yes, you proabably have: Some of the songs were taken from their 2014 Demo Tape. Rumbling and driving basslines, straight drumming topped by partly wavey guitar riffs: simple, clean and honest while retaining a good portion of frenetic power and energy. Think of THE ESTRANGED, NEW FLESH or RED DONGS. A Band to reckon with: LITOVSK is defintely one of the best Postpunk coming from Europe these days. On this records they manage to give an extra vibe to the last wave and created eleven hymns to dance and sing along with.

[engl] Growing up at the end of the world makes you feel unique and timeless things. There is universality in life apart from the excessive urbanism of big cities, rocked by the waves and a not so rare sun. The teenage years are those of endless summers where feelings and the taste for freedom enter a new dimension. LITOVSK takes a look at this period but also on its commitment to activism and questions its relationship to others, social determinism and religious faith.This record could be described as a kind of testimony but it’s much more than that : lyrics, music and artwork go in the same direction and form a rich protean ensemble. During these five songs, LITOVSK ventures into new territories with more melodies and more room for melancholy without losing anything of their singular sound and energy. This 12’’ was recorded between Leipzig and Brittany and it is brilliantly illustrated by Evan Luven’s full of sensitivity photos.