BUREAU B - Forced Exposure

$17.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/10/2020

The first part of Hans-Joachim Roedelius's Selbstportrait (Self-Portrait) series was originally released under the title Sanfte Musik on Sky Records in 1979. Now, some forty years later, a new instalment has arrived in the form of an album entitled Wahre Liebe. One of the initiators of the Berlin Zodiak Free Arts Lab in 1967, Roedelius went on to co-found Kluster/Cluster and Harmonia, unleashing a new and free form of music which, with the benefit of hindsight, can be considered a milestone in the historical context of kosmische musik and krautrock. In the late 1970s, Roedelius began to increase his activities as a solo artist, building up an extensive and multifaceted body of work over the ensuing decades. Across this timeline, the Self-Portrait albums represent an intensely personal and noteworthy corpus in their own right. Over the past ten years, the Hamburg-based label Bureau B has reissued numerous Hans-Joachim Roedelius albums, both solo and collaborative efforts, introducing him to a new generation of potential devotees. In 2014, label founder Gunther Buskies approached Roedelius to suggest that he record a new instalment for the Self-Portrait series, using the same instruments which dominated his productions in the late 1970s: a Farfisa organ, drum machine, tape-delay and a Rhodes. Together with Onnen and Wolf Bock, the album Wahre Liebe (True Love) was created. Roedelius explains the process: "The Wahre Liebe album was commissioned by Gunther Buskies, who wanted to know if the elderly Roedelius, armed with vintage tools, was capable of 'beaming back' to his youthful years, reaching into the sonic past of the Self-Portrait series to deliver similarly persuasive results. What better proof could there be that true love, age-old love never dies..." Sure enough, this album successfully and seamlessly connects with its antecedents. Miniatures, improvisations, atmospheric images, and dreamlike introspections of an individualist are articulated in that innate Roedelius language which is at once brittle and as light as a whisper, a pastel ribbon weaving its way softly through the full range of sonic topographies. Hans-Joachim Roedelius is pleased with the outcome: "Roedelius has been granted the opportunity to become intimately acquainted with his own self in order to achieve that of which he is ultimately capable, namely his calling: to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors, to create authentic art, be it music or words, or anything and everything else which fascinates him."

$17.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/10/2020

During the legendary Forst years, Roedelius had a private workspace with a Farfisa organ, a Revox-A77 tape machine, an echo device and a synthesizer which he borrowed from the Cluster studio next door now and again. Here he experimented, practiced, allowed his imagination to flow, at any hour of the day or night, whenever he was not in the studio with Dieter Moebius and/or Michael Rother at work on new Cluster or Harmonia material. Roedelius always let the tape run, in order to analyze the ideas thus captured more effectively on repeated listening. For the first time ever, this Roedelius audio sketchbook had been digitalized and available to the public in 2014 on a limited three-LP box set called Roedelius Tape Archive 1973-1978. The recordings offer a deep insight into the creative process of his music. Fleeting notes, slivers of ideas, so to speak, moments of inspiration. Finger exercises, experiments in harmony, studies in rhythm are also preserved on these magnetic tapes. Since the box set has been sold out for a long time, Bureau B decided to release the essence of those three LPs on a one-disc compilation: Roedelius Tape Archive Essence 1973-1978.

$22.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/10/2020

LP version. During the legendary Forst years, Roedelius had a private workspace with a Farfisa organ, a Revox-A77 tape machine, an echo device and a synthesizer which he borrowed from the Cluster studio next door now and again. Here he experimented, practiced, allowed his imagination to flow, at any hour of the day or night, whenever he was not in the studio with Dieter Moebius and/or Michael Rother at work on new Cluster or Harmonia material. Roedelius always let the tape run, in order to analyze the ideas thus captured more effectively on repeated listening. For the first time ever, this Roedelius audio sketchbook had been digitalized and available to the public in 2014 on a limited three-LP box set called Roedelius Tape Archive 1973-1978. The recordings offer a deep insight into the creative process of his music. Fleeting notes, slivers of ideas, so to speak, moments of inspiration. Finger exercises, experiments in harmony, studies in rhythm are also preserved on these magnetic tapes. Since the box set has been sold out for a long time, Bureau B decided to release the essence of those three LPs on a one-disc compilation: Roedelius Tape Archive Essence 1973-1978.

$22.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/10/2020

LP version. The first part of Hans-Joachim Roedelius's Selbstportrait (Self-Portrait) series was originally released under the title Sanfte Musik on Sky Records in 1979. Now, some forty years later, a new instalment has arrived in the form of an album entitled Wahre Liebe. One of the initiators of the Berlin Zodiak Free Arts Lab in 1967, Roedelius went on to co-found Kluster/Cluster and Harmonia, unleashing a new and free form of music which, with the benefit of hindsight, can be considered a milestone in the historical context of kosmische musik and krautrock. In the late 1970s, Roedelius began to increase his activities as a solo artist, building up an extensive and multifaceted body of work over the ensuing decades. Across this timeline, the Self-Portrait albums represent an intensely personal and noteworthy corpus in their own right. Over the past ten years, the Hamburg-based label Bureau B has reissued numerous Hans-Joachim Roedelius albums, both solo and collaborative efforts, introducing him to a new generation of potential devotees. In 2014, label founder Gunther Buskies approached Roedelius to suggest that he record a new instalment for the Self-Portrait series, using the same instruments which dominated his productions in the late 1970s: a Farfisa organ, drum machine, tape-delay and a Rhodes. Together with Onnen and Wolf Bock, the album Wahre Liebe (True Love) was created. Roedelius explains the process: "The Wahre Liebe album was commissioned by Gunther Buskies, who wanted to know if the elderly Roedelius, armed with vintage tools, was capable of 'beaming back' to his youthful years, reaching into the sonic past of the Self-Portrait series to deliver similarly persuasive results. What better proof could there be that true love, age-old love never dies..." Sure enough, this album successfully and seamlessly connects with its antecedents. Miniatures, improvisations, atmospheric images, and dreamlike introspections of an individualist are articulated in that innate Roedelius language which is at once brittle and as light as a whisper, a pastel ribbon weaving its way softly through the full range of sonic topographies. Hans-Joachim Roedelius is pleased with the outcome: "Roedelius has been granted the opportunity to become intimately acquainted with his own self in order to achieve that of which he is ultimately capable, namely his calling: to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors, to create authentic art, be it music or words, or anything and everything else which fascinates him."

$29.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 3/6/2020

LP version. Finnish composer and multi-instrumentalist Jimi Tenor has joined forces with Bureau B to release NY, Hel, Barca, a retrospective compilation spanning the years 1994-2001. The release features early works and selected tracks from his first six albums, long since deleted. Having disbanded Jimi Tenor And His Shamans, the artist embarked on a solo career in the early 1990s, recording his debut work Sähkömies on rudimentary equipment in a small New York apartment. The album was released in 1994 on the Finnish imprint Sähkö, who also issued Tenor's sophomore work Europa a year later, expanding on the ideas articulated on the first disc. In spite of the experimental nature and free form of these early recordings, Tenor's instinctive grasp of pop appeal, his spontaneity and whimsical sense of humor are clearly in evidence. On the back of a game-changing performance at the Love Parade in Berlin, Jimi Tenor scored his first hit with "Take Me Baby", entering the charts and signing a deal with the seminal electronic label Warp Records. The three Warp albums --Intervision (1997), Organism (1999), and Out Of Nowhere (2000) -- were touchstones in the electronic club music scene of the period. Effortlessly blending jazz, synthesizer sounds, Afrobeat, and drum machine dubs, Jimi Tenor created a distinctive sound which he himself rewired and renewed. Not that his compositions were overly academic, on the contrary -- they often resembled free-flowing, sporadic sketches, with an infectiously irrepressible touch of the absurd. The 20 tracks on NY, Hel, Barca document key stages of Jimi Tenor's remarkable creative path, underlining the prolific and varied nature of his artistic output. Then as now, he shines like a satellite hovering over the European pop landscape. "Backbone Of The Night" features Riga Symphony Orchestra.

$20.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 3/6/2020

Finnish composer and multi-instrumentalist Jimi Tenor has joined forces with Bureau B to release NY, Hel, Barca, a retrospective compilation spanning the years 1994-2001. The release features early works and selected tracks from his first six albums, long since deleted. Having disbanded Jimi Tenor And His Shamans, the artist embarked on a solo career in the early 1990s, recording his debut work Sähkömies on rudimentary equipment in a small New York apartment. The album was released in 1994 on the Finnish imprint Sähkö, who also issued Tenor's sophomore work Europa a year later, expanding on the ideas articulated on the first disc. In spite of the experimental nature and free form of these early recordings, Tenor's instinctive grasp of pop appeal, his spontaneity and whimsical sense of humor are clearly in evidence. On the back of a game-changing performance at the Love Parade in Berlin, Jimi Tenor scored his first hit with "Take Me Baby", entering the charts and signing a deal with the seminal electronic label Warp Records. The three Warp albums --Intervision (1997), Organism (1999), and Out Of Nowhere (2000) -- were touchstones in the electronic club music scene of the period. Effortlessly blending jazz, synthesizer sounds, Afrobeat, and drum machine dubs, Jimi Tenor created a distinctive sound which he himself rewired and renewed. Not that his compositions were overly academic, on the contrary -- they often resembled free-flowing, sporadic sketches, with an infectiously irrepressible touch of the absurd. The 20 tracks on NY, Hel, Barca document key stages of Jimi Tenor's remarkable creative path, underlining the prolific and varied nature of his artistic output. Then as now, he shines like a satellite hovering over the European pop landscape. "Backbone Of The Night" features Riga Symphony Orchestra.

$22.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 2/21/2020

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Heldon's Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale, originally released in 1976. Heldon's Richard Pinhas has never been shy of pinpointing his influences while, at the same time, making music that is noticeably distinct from any of his designated sources. He has, for instance, made it clear that a significant font of inspiration was Robert Fripp's guitar style and melding of rock music with cutting-edge electronics (especially in collaboration with Brian Eno). Indeed, Heldon's fifth album, Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale, was named after a live bootleg of a King Crimson concert. Pinhas first met Fripp in 1974, and the pair became friends and have remained in contact ever since. Pinhas was even offered a deal with E.G. Records, the company that oversaw King Crimson alongside other successful groups like Roxy Music and ELP. "That was a dream," says Pinhas. "But when you are 22, you are in a hurry. They asked me to wait one or two years before joining the team. I couldn't wait two years!" Instead, Pinhas launched his own label, Disjuncta, which he later sold to purchase the Moog synthesizer that would make a huge difference to Heldon's sound. Heldon's output also drew from radical science fiction (Philip K. Dick, Norman Spinrad, etc.) as well as philosophy: the sleeve features a quote from Pierre Klossowski's Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle (1969). Heldon never represented a mere facsimile of Pinhas's musical touchstones: King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, or Frank Zappa. Heldon was always its own beast and by 1976 it was thriving and roaring like never before. More work was being completed in a proper studio, the Moog helped strengthen the sound and direction, and Pinhas's rotating cast of collaborators was solidifying into something resembling a regular lineup, with François Auger on drums and Patrick Gauthier on synthesizers. The result was a darker, heavier, and more intense sound. The LP opens with the prog-gone-skronk onslaught of "Marie Virginie C", sounding rather like Robert Fripp being sliced into bloody chunks in Thurston Moore's basement. Auger is the star of "Elephanta", in all its Moog-assisted polyrhythmic glory. On side two, "MVC II" offers six minutes of sinister dystopian squelch rock. It's followed by "Toward The Red Line", an epic piece conceivably serving to connect the dots between Hawkwind's most freeform passages and the Detroit techno innovations of the coming decade.

$22.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 2/21/2020

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Heldon's 6 - Interface, originally released in 1977. A brilliant moment occurs right at the end of Heldon's sixth album, Interface. The album's final song, its side-long title track, builds up slowly into a roaring tornado of fiercely mutating drum patterns, effervescent synth work, and guitar licks that wail into the atmosphere like an abandoned astronaut. Then, after nearly 19 minutes of highly futuristic avant-garde space rock, this ultramodern music fades out and is replaced by a concluding few seconds of traditional blues-rock guitar. "We were finishing the track, the tape was rolling, and I started to play a normal boogie or whatever," remembers Heldon leader Richard Pinhas. "I think it was a good idea to keep it. It just came naturally, at the end." This event acts as a reminder of just how far rock n' roll had been transformed since its earliest incarnations. This blueprint had been jolted and nudged down all kinds of unexpected avenues after players like Chuck Berry and Bill Haley first found fame. The genre had branched out into every manner of mutated form. It had given rise to misshapen clones and had shifted into unrecognizable shapes, like a beautiful alien creature from one of the science fiction tales that were fondly admired by so many experimental rock musicians, Pinhas included. Heldon, surely, represented one of rock n' roll's most distant relatives; an innovative fusion of avant-garde rock sounds and synthesizer pulsations. At the same time, Interface's unexpected ending also tells us that such music, however improvisatory or fused with electronic elements, will forever have its roots in those early rock n' roll records that are responsible for so many varieties of aural exploration. Thanks to the increased presence of drummer François Auger and synth/Moog man Patrick Gauthier, Pinhas's project had solidified into a harder and heavier unit. Around the time of the album's release, the musician and composer Jean-Philippe Goude told Pinhas that because of its merging of synthesizer sounds with "real" instrumentation. Despite its often warm and near-funky feel, Interface has been cited as an influence on key industrial and noise musicians including Wolf Eyes and Merzbow.

$22.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 2/21/2020

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Heldon's seventh and final album of the 1970s Stand By, originally released in 1979. After the release of Stand By, Richard Pinhas focused on solo LPs before quitting music for around a decade. "It was the end of the tale," he explains. "We decided to split for many reasons. The main one was that one or two of the other musicians wanted to stop. They were session musicians, mainly. At one point they said they didn't have so much time to give. And it was a time when a lot of bands who had become reluctantly successful decided to split . . . Split at the top, not waiting to go down." Heldon certainly went out on a high. Stand By's mood remains urgent and gripping throughout, fashioned via immense synthesizer sounds, a plethora of interweaving drum patterns, spiraling guitar chops, and lurching riffs. It's been likened to krautrock, yet Pinhas never paid attention to the German scene. There are other similarities to parallel innovations that John Carpenter was making in the field of sci-fi/horror soundtracks. The hazmat-suit-wearing figure on Stand By's cover could have starred in such a movie. The album's unearthly vocals were provided by Klaus Blasquiz of Magma. Some progressive musicians of the '70s felt threatened by the rise of punk -- Not Pinhas. As producer, he worked with French punk acts like Asphalt Jungle. No, Pinhas was more troubled by wider world developments. These miseries played their own part in Heldon's demise. "We recorded Stand By in '78, going into '79. Politics had all shifted to the right with your Maggie Thatcher and, in America, that very bad actor. They started the bullshit of neoliberalism that we have to live with now, everywhere. We're going to be in a very fascistic world within twenty years. Not even that long. The initiation of this change came with Reagan and Maggie. It started in the '80s." Stand By was recorded at Studio Davout, the Parisian home to recordings by everyone from Karlheinz Stockhausen to Johnny Hallyday. That, too, has fallen victim to brutal economics. It was demolished in 2018. "They destroyed the main historical studio in France to put up a supermarket!" says Pinhas. "It was a place where a lot of things happened. Musicians were working all night long. It could've been a museum for music."

$17.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 2/14/2020

Some will know Felix Kubin as the Janus-faced poltergeist of retrofuture electronic dance music. To others, he is an award-winning radio dramatist, an arranger of complex orchestral and big band compositions. Contemporary experimental musicians see him as the personification of pop desire. For producers of pop and club music, meanwhile, he is a tree trunk, spanning the deep gorge between them and high culture. One thing they can all agree on: when Kubin shows up, concrete and plastic melt. Born in 1980, Hubert Zemler enrolled at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in his home town of Warsaw in 1999. His classical training encompassed jazz, contemporary music, and improvisation, positioning the drummer, percussionist and composer as a congenial counterweight to Kubin's ludicrous electronica. The debut album from this German-Polish duo CEL is a test laboratory for rhythmic cadences and electrostatic discharges. Under the expert guidance of Hamburg producer Tobias Levin, they have created seven self-contained instrumentals enriched by vibraphone, xylophone, and African percussion. Zemler's stripped down mechanics and Kubin's erratic electronics dovetail superbly. A sense of concentrated restlessness pervades the album -- in the greater stream of things, some tracks come close to bursting their banks whilst others scale the loftiest heights of insanity. And yet, every movement, every tone fits perfectly. There is method to the madness, an exercise in systematic excess. A disconcerting electronic pulse traces a filtered path through "Ping Korridor". In the space of something over ten minutes the atmosphere shifts from oppressiveness to openness. Indeed, unexpected twists lurk in many of the tracks, ensnaring the listener's undivided attention. On the contrary, it's full speed ahead with eyes wide open, deeper and deeper into the affair. Ghostly synths shimmer through "Lichtton", punctuated by minimalist drums. No wave skeletons dance to the jagged rhythms of "Elektrybałt". "Funkenkammer" is an acid monster dedicated to shredding your nerves. "Jimmy Carter" sends shockwaves across the dancefloor, causing bodies and objects to collide. You may ask: "how is such a thing humanly possible? How can something so angular, so intrinsically Teutonic, groove so wildly?" This album sees Felix Kubin push his sound generators to the outer limits of the frequency spectrum. Hubert Zemler delivers wonderfully forceful, machine-like beats and dark sonic collages. An album that sounds as if it has always existed as a source of inspiration to generations of musicians. A timeless classic.

$22.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 2/14/2020

LP version. Some will know Felix Kubin as the Janus-faced poltergeist of retrofuture electronic dance music. To others, he is an award-winning radio dramatist, an arranger of complex orchestral and big band compositions. Contemporary experimental musicians see him as the personification of pop desire. For producers of pop and club music, meanwhile, he is a tree trunk, spanning the deep gorge between them and high culture. One thing they can all agree on: when Kubin shows up, concrete and plastic melt. Born in 1980, Hubert Zemler enrolled at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in his home town of Warsaw in 1999. His classical training encompassed jazz, contemporary music, and improvisation, positioning the drummer, percussionist and composer as a congenial counterweight to Kubin's ludicrous electronica. The debut album from this German-Polish duo CEL is a test laboratory for rhythmic cadences and electrostatic discharges. Under the expert guidance of Hamburg producer Tobias Levin, they have created seven self-contained instrumentals enriched by vibraphone, xylophone, and African percussion. Zemler's stripped down mechanics and Kubin's erratic electronics dovetail superbly. A sense of concentrated restlessness pervades the album -- in the greater stream of things, some tracks come close to bursting their banks whilst others scale the loftiest heights of insanity. And yet, every movement, every tone fits perfectly. There is method to the madness, an exercise in systematic excess. A disconcerting electronic pulse traces a filtered path through "Ping Korridor". In the space of something over ten minutes the atmosphere shifts from oppressiveness to openness. Indeed, unexpected twists lurk in many of the tracks, ensnaring the listener's undivided attention. On the contrary, it's full speed ahead with eyes wide open, deeper and deeper into the affair. Ghostly synths shimmer through "Lichtton", punctuated by minimalist drums. No wave skeletons dance to the jagged rhythms of "Elektrybałt". "Funkenkammer" is an acid monster dedicated to shredding your nerves. "Jimmy Carter" sends shockwaves across the dancefloor, causing bodies and objects to collide. You may ask: "how is such a thing humanly possible? How can something so angular, so intrinsically Teutonic, groove so wildly?" This album sees Felix Kubin push his sound generators to the outer limits of the frequency spectrum. Hubert Zemler delivers wonderfully forceful, machine-like beats and dark sonic collages. An album that sounds as if it has always existed as a source of inspiration to generations of musicians. A timeless classic.

$17.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 2/7/2020

Sammlung (BB 236CD/LP, 2017) compiled by Stefan Schneider first introduced a selection of previously little-known exponents of 1980s Duesseldorf electronic tape music. A further remarkable example of the Duesseldorf underground tape output, 1986's Singende Drahte originally circulated in a minuscule edition among aficionados only is now finally available as a CD and vinyl re-edition. Deux Baleines Blanches was the name of Stefan Schneider's avant-pop-project who concurrently with his studies of photography at Duesseldorf's Kunstakademie had begun his musical explorations in the early 1980s, which also led him to cofound the bands Kreidler (1994) and To Rococo Rot (1995). Singende Drahte showcases some of his early work in the field. The somewhat sketchy and abstract character of these 14 tracks, "Draehte" (wires) is slightly reminiscent of the esthetics of contemporary labels like Les Disques du Crépuscule or early 4AD, yet they sound surprisingly modern even 30 years after they were first released.

"The music on this album has originally been recorded in an attempt to recreate an electric drone emanating from an overhead electric power line which I had noticed by chance on a humid day in May 1986 whilst on a bicycle tour across the rural outskirts of Düsseldorf. The surprising discovery of this static yet tender hum which filled the air was a completely overwhelming listening experience . . . The very next day I borrowed a recording device from a friend (it was a Sony Walkman if memory serves) and went back to the same spot right underneath the huge wires of the power line, eagerly anticipating the chance to record this particular hum, my future favorite album onto cassette tape. Yet weirdly, on this day the hum was nowhere to be heard . . . Back at home I took my guitar and my amp and tried to imitate what I could not record in the field. The more effort I put into these attempts the worse it got, however I was convinced . . . A couple of weeks later, however, I listened back to these sketches and was surprised that there was something quite uniquely intriguing within these recorded fragments. You simply had to disregard the original intention -- to imitate the sound of an electric hum. I chose to liberate myself from the constraints of the experiment and subsequently recorded my sketches on a 4-track cassette. The nished cassette was released in November 1986 in an edition of maybe 15 copies." --Stefan Schneider, October 2019

$22.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 2/7/2020

LP version. Sammlung (BB 236CD/LP, 2017) compiled by Stefan Schneider first introduced a selection of previously little-known exponents of 1980s Duesseldorf electronic tape music. A further remarkable example of the Duesseldorf underground tape output, 1986's Singende Drahte originally circulated in a minuscule edition among aficionados only is now finally available as a CD and vinyl re-edition. Deux Baleines Blanches was the name of Stefan Schneider's avant-pop-project who concurrently with his studies of photography at Duesseldorf's Kunstakademie had begun his musical explorations in the early 1980s, which also led him to cofound the bands Kreidler (1994) and To Rococo Rot (1995). Singende Drahte showcases some of his early work in the field. The somewhat sketchy and abstract character of these 14 tracks, "Draehte" (wires) is slightly reminiscent of the esthetics of contemporary labels like Les Disques du Crépuscule or early 4AD, yet they sound surprisingly modern even 30 years after they were first released.

"The music on this album has originally been recorded in an attempt to recreate an electric drone emanating from an overhead electric power line which I had noticed by chance on a humid day in May 1986 whilst on a bicycle tour across the rural outskirts of Düsseldorf. The surprising discovery of this static yet tender hum which filled the air was a completely overwhelming listening experience . . . The very next day I borrowed a recording device from a friend (it was a Sony Walkman if memory serves) and went back to the same spot right underneath the huge wires of the power line, eagerly anticipating the chance to record this particular hum, my future favorite album onto cassette tape. Yet weirdly, on this day the hum was nowhere to be heard . . . Back at home I took my guitar and my amp and tried to imitate what I could not record in the field. The more effort I put into these attempts the worse it got, however I was convinced . . . A couple of weeks later, however, I listened back to these sketches and was surprised that there was something quite uniquely intriguing within these recorded fragments. You simply had to disregard the original intention -- to imitate the sound of an electric hum. I chose to liberate myself from the constraints of the experiment and subsequently recorded my sketches on a 4-track cassette. The nished cassette was released in November 1986 in an edition of maybe 15 copies." --Stefan Schneider, October 2019

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Heldon's 6 - Interface, originally released in 1977. A brilliant moment occurs right at the end of Heldon's sixth album, Interface. The album's final song, its side-long title track, builds up slowly into a roaring tornado of fiercely mutating drum patterns, effervescent synth work, and guitar licks that wail into the atmosphere like an abandoned astronaut. Then, after nearly 19 minutes of highly futuristic avant-garde space rock, this ultramodern music fades out and is replaced by a concluding few seconds of traditional blues-rock guitar. "We were finishing the track, the tape was rolling, and I started to play a normal boogie or whatever," remembers Heldon leader Richard Pinhas. "I think it was a good idea to keep it. It just came naturally, at the end." This event acts as a reminder of just how far rock n' roll had been transformed since its earliest incarnations. This blueprint had been jolted and nudged down all kinds of unexpected avenues after players like Chuck Berry and Bill Haley first found fame. The genre had branched out into every manner of mutated form. It had given rise to misshapen clones and had shifted into unrecognizable shapes, like a beautiful alien creature from one of the science fiction tales that were fondly admired by so many experimental rock musicians, Pinhas included. Heldon, surely, represented one of rock n' roll's most distant relatives; an innovative fusion of avant-garde rock sounds and synthesizer pulsations. At the same time, Interface's unexpected ending also tells us that such music, however improvisatory or fused with electronic elements, will forever have its roots in those early rock n' roll records that are responsible for so many varieties of aural exploration. Thanks to the increased presence of drummer François Auger and synth/Moog man Patrick Gauthier, Pinhas's project had solidified into a harder and heavier unit. Around the time of the album's release, the musician and composer Jean-Philippe Goude told Pinhas that because of its merging of synthesizer sounds with "real" instrumentation. Despite its often warm and near-funky feel, Interface has been cited as an influence on key industrial and noise musicians including Wolf Eyes and Merzbow.

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Heldon's seventh and final album of the 1970s Stand By, originally released in 1979. After the release of Stand By, Richard Pinhas focused on solo LPs before quitting music for around a decade. "It was the end of the tale," he explains. "We decided to split for many reasons. The main one was that one or two of the other musicians wanted to stop. They were session musicians, mainly. At one point they said they didn't have so much time to give. And it was a time when a lot of bands who had become reluctantly successful decided to split . . . Split at the top, not waiting to go down." Heldon certainly went out on a high. Stand By's mood remains urgent and gripping throughout, fashioned via immense synthesizer sounds, a plethora of interweaving drum patterns, spiraling guitar chops, and lurching riffs. It's been likened to krautrock, yet Pinhas never paid attention to the German scene. There are other similarities to parallel innovations that John Carpenter was making in the field of sci-fi/horror soundtracks. The hazmat-suit-wearing figure on Stand By's cover could have starred in such a movie. The album's unearthly vocals were provided by Klaus Blasquiz of Magma. Some progressive musicians of the '70s felt threatened by the rise of punk -- Not Pinhas. As producer, he worked with French punk acts like Asphalt Jungle. No, Pinhas was more troubled by wider world developments. These miseries played their own part in Heldon's demise. "We recorded Stand By in '78, going into '79. Politics had all shifted to the right with your Maggie Thatcher and, in America, that very bad actor. They started the bullshit of neoliberalism that we have to live with now, everywhere. We're going to be in a very fascistic world within twenty years. Not even that long. The initiation of this change came with Reagan and Maggie. It started in the '80s." Stand By was recorded at Studio Davout, the Parisian home to recordings by everyone from Karlheinz Stockhausen to Johnny Hallyday. That, too, has fallen victim to brutal economics. It was demolished in 2018. "They destroyed the main historical studio in France to put up a supermarket!" says Pinhas. "It was a place where a lot of things happened. Musicians were working all night long. It could've been a museum for music."

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Heldon's Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale, originally released in 1976. Heldon's Richard Pinhas has never been shy of pinpointing his influences while, at the same time, making music that is noticeably distinct from any of his designated sources. He has, for instance, made it clear that a significant font of inspiration was Robert Fripp's guitar style and melding of rock music with cutting-edge electronics (especially in collaboration with Brian Eno). Indeed, Heldon's fifth album, Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale, was named after a live bootleg of a King Crimson concert. Pinhas first met Fripp in 1974, and the pair became friends and have remained in contact ever since. Pinhas was even offered a deal with E.G. Records, the company that oversaw King Crimson alongside other successful groups like Roxy Music and ELP. "That was a dream," says Pinhas. "But when you are 22, you are in a hurry. They asked me to wait one or two years before joining the team. I couldn't wait two years!" Instead, Pinhas launched his own label, Disjuncta, which he later sold to purchase the Moog synthesizer that would make a huge difference to Heldon's sound. Heldon's output also drew from radical science fiction (Philip K. Dick, Norman Spinrad, etc.) as well as philosophy: the sleeve features a quote from Pierre Klossowski's Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle (1969). Heldon never represented a mere facsimile of Pinhas's musical touchstones: King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, or Frank Zappa. Heldon was always its own beast and by 1976 it was thriving and roaring like never before. More work was being completed in a proper studio, the Moog helped strengthen the sound and direction, and Pinhas's rotating cast of collaborators was solidifying into something resembling a regular lineup, with François Auger on drums and Patrick Gauthier on synthesizers. The result was a darker, heavier, and more intense sound. The LP opens with the prog-gone-skronk onslaught of "Marie Virginie C", sounding rather like Robert Fripp being sliced into bloody chunks in Thurston Moore's basement. Auger is the star of "Elephanta", in all its Moog-assisted polyrhythmic glory. On side two, "MVC II" offers six minutes of sinister dystopian squelch rock. It's followed by "Toward The Red Line", an epic piece conceivably serving to connect the dots between Hawkwind's most freeform passages and the Detroit techno innovations of the coming decade.

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Notorische Reflexe's self-titled release, originally released in 1985 on Rebel Records. Mark Reeder on Notorische Reflexe: "I honestly can't remember the first time I saw Notorische Reflexe perform, but I imagine it was probably at some mad avant-garde experimental event in SO36 or Tempodrom, or somewhere, because those days have become a hazy, crazy mixture of drunken, drug-fueled fragments of memories that have become barricaded in the back of my mind. One thing I do remember, is that their performances were always packed with wild and experimental artistic creativity. They were always extremely entertaining to watch, mixing self-made movies and music at a time when it was not the norm . . . Yet, the Notorische Reflexe were not just a band in the traditional sense, they were a collective of artists, each with a unique talent of their own, which they pooled together to create an experimental experience with every performance. You didn't go to a Notorische Reflexe gig to listen to a collection of their greatest hits, you went to a Notorische Reflexe gig to be enlightened and always, challenged. The '80s were a time of creative liberation . . . It was as if they almost expected you to be weird and the weirder you were, the better and without doubt, Notorische Reflexe certainly fitted that bill. I loved watching them live. They were fun and funny. I sometimes got the impression they were trying to force a square peg into a round hole, like mixing disco with dirge, but that was the whole point of their unconventional presentation. They caused you to consider and query. Each performance was a one-off event never to be repeated. The movies mashed with the music, always in a bizarre setting, with piles of electronic junk as their stage scenery, which became their signature. Ok, the Notorische Reflexe might not be as well-known as Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Tödliche Doris, or Malaria!, but they were as equally important in creating what has meanwhile become known as the Berliner Geniale Dillitanten scene, because it was all the other bands like Notorische Reflexe (or my own band Die Unbekannten), who participated in this experiment, and who were an essential part of the pyramid of bands that supported the main feature and helped to create the Berliner Krankheit."

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LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Notorische Reflexe's self-titled release, originally released in 1985 on Rebel Records. Mark Reeder on Notorische Reflexe: "I honestly can't remember the first time I saw Notorische Reflexe perform, but I imagine it was probably at some mad avant-garde experimental event in SO36 or Tempodrom, or somewhere, because those days have become a hazy, crazy mixture of drunken, drug-fueled fragments of memories that have become barricaded in the back of my mind. One thing I do remember, is that their performances were always packed with wild and experimental artistic creativity. They were always extremely entertaining to watch, mixing self-made movies and music at a time when it was not the norm . . . Yet, the Notorische Reflexe were not just a band in the traditional sense, they were a collective of artists, each with a unique talent of their own, which they pooled together to create an experimental experience with every performance. You didn't go to a Notorische Reflexe gig to listen to a collection of their greatest hits, you went to a Notorische Reflexe gig to be enlightened and always, challenged. The '80s were a time of creative liberation . . . It was as if they almost expected you to be weird and the weirder you were, the better and without doubt, Notorische Reflexe certainly fitted that bill. I loved watching them live. They were fun and funny. I sometimes got the impression they were trying to force a square peg into a round hole, like mixing disco with dirge, but that was the whole point of their unconventional presentation. They caused you to consider and query. Each performance was a one-off event never to be repeated. The movies mashed with the music, always in a bizarre setting, with piles of electronic junk as their stage scenery, which became their signature. Ok, the Notorische Reflexe might not be as well-known as Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Tödliche Doris, or Malaria!, but they were as equally important in creating what has meanwhile become known as the Berliner Geniale Dillitanten scene, because it was all the other bands like Notorische Reflexe (or my own band Die Unbekannten), who participated in this experiment, and who were an essential part of the pyramid of bands that supported the main feature and helped to create the Berliner Krankheit."

$17.00 IN STOCK

Thomas Klein, Alexander Paulick, Andreas Reihse, and Detlef Weinrich assembled in Düsseldorf in winter of 2018 for recordings, and then continued with further sessions in Berlin. Starting with around a dozen sketches, the band produced eight pieces, including "Flood I-IV" and "Flood V", an ensemble of five songs that -- in LP terms -- fills the entire second side of the album. But let's start from the beginning. Side One -- still speaking in LP terms -- begins pleasantly enough with the gentle roll and slight murmur of "Eurydike". Borrowed from Greek mythology, the title refers to the pretense of affection as a means of abandonment. The wistful saxophone, the bass notes, the slight trembling in the sound all speak of her awakening from disillusion. "Celeration", the second piece, seems to accelerate. But the pace of "Eurydike" is actually maintained. The tone becomes sharper, the rhythm creaky, the rolling more energetic, the sequence calls for a sacrifice. A shimmy, a scuttle, a quarter step: "Nesindano". The voice you hear is Khoes, alias Nesindano Namises; the language we hear is Khoekhoe/Damara. A gong, a CR-78 joins, a clicking, a flicker, words flutter, a bass booms, the voice rises up to the hook line, an FM synthesizer picks up the pieces and carries them along, percussion rattles. Agit-Pop! "Flood I-IV" is not about modesty or humility. It calls for always demanding the maximum --of oneself and for oneself -- which also means to give, and that each may set their own limits while respecting others, accepting them and helping where help is needed. Ricardo Domeneck takes on "Flood II" while looking out over the sea in Brazil, his feet in the sand for a few minutes, recalling a conversation with a geologist. "Flood I-IV" involves synthesizers, strings, rusty percussion, guitars enter into dialogue, a collaborative negotiation, a swelling and descending, a showering in transparent layers, banging on shore, heads are rolling, liquefying hierarchies not structures. "Flood IV" is a dance that flows into "Flood V", taking with it its instrumentation and mood, and moving it into a state between an easy-elegiac thoughtfulness and a concentrated contemplation. Kreidler, this four-headed hydra of a continental pop music that captures Bach, disco, postpunk, club, and krautrock in varying proportions with an elegant lightness. On Flood the band playfully expands its approach with two renowned voices.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Thomas Klein, Alexander Paulick, Andreas Reihse, and Detlef Weinrich assembled in Düsseldorf in winter of 2018 for recordings, and then continued with further sessions in Berlin. Starting with around a dozen sketches, the band produced eight pieces, including "Flood I-IV" and "Flood V", an ensemble of five songs that -- in LP terms -- fills the entire second side of the album. But let's start from the beginning. Side One -- still speaking in LP terms -- begins pleasantly enough with the gentle roll and slight murmur of "Eurydike". Borrowed from Greek mythology, the title refers to the pretense of affection as a means of abandonment. The wistful saxophone, the bass notes, the slight trembling in the sound all speak of her awakening from disillusion. "Celeration", the second piece, seems to accelerate. But the pace of "Eurydike" is actually maintained. The tone becomes sharper, the rhythm creaky, the rolling more energetic, the sequence calls for a sacrifice. A shimmy, a scuttle, a quarter step: "Nesindano". The voice you hear is Khoes, alias Nesindano Namises; the language we hear is Khoekhoe/Damara. A gong, a CR-78 joins, a clicking, a flicker, words flutter, a bass booms, the voice rises up to the hook line, an FM synthesizer picks up the pieces and carries them along, percussion rattles. Agit-Pop! "Flood I-IV" is not about modesty or humility. It calls for always demanding the maximum --of oneself and for oneself -- which also means to give, and that each may set their own limits while respecting others, accepting them and helping where help is needed. Ricardo Domeneck takes on "Flood II" while looking out over the sea in Brazil, his feet in the sand for a few minutes, recalling a conversation with a geologist. "Flood I-IV" involves synthesizers, strings, rusty percussion, guitars enter into dialogue, a collaborative negotiation, a swelling and descending, a showering in transparent layers, banging on shore, heads are rolling, liquefying hierarchies not structures. "Flood IV" is a dance that flows into "Flood V", taking with it its instrumentation and mood, and moving it into a state between an easy-elegiac thoughtfulness and a concentrated contemplation. Kreidler, this four-headed hydra of a continental pop music that captures Bach, disco, postpunk, club, and krautrock in varying proportions with an elegant lightness. On Flood the band playfully expands its approach with two renowned voices.

$17.00 IN STOCK

A living room somewhere in southern Germany. Embroidery graces the walls, a veneer side table with little chrome feet stands in front of a beige velour sofa, a minibar awaits. Pride of place goes to the electric organ which majestically occupies the center of the room, flanked by two oversized loudspeakers. Welcome to the world of OTTO. The duo comprising Alexander Arpeggio and Cid Hohner released their debut 12"-single -- Greatest Hits -- on the Dutch label Charlois in 2016. It sounded fresh, with abundant references to old school electronic organ music. The recordings were made in Cid Hohner's home studio with the aid of various dusty electronic keyboard instruments, the most important of which was a home organ from the early 1980s -- with integrated auto bass and rhythm patterns, of course. In 2017, OTTO finally dragged their organs on stage to unleash their live set. A second disc (self-released) soon followed. The cover image of a German allotment garden anti-idyll under grey skies reflects the darker tone of Full Auto, the music driven forwards by a 1960s drum machine. OTTO headed for the grimy bars and stages of Europe to perform their new creations. A third 12" appeared in 2018. Stimmungen was released with the support of Orgaton, the society for the promotion of organ music. The cover could be an advertisement for a debt collection agency. Inside: bewilderingly danceable rap, a beguiling ballad, smooth as silk. Once again, OTTO defined the contours of their own organ-disco genre. And there's no stopping them now: the two-man band are set to release their long-awaited debut album in 2019 on Bureau B. The eight tracks contain familiar OTTO ingredients, from organ sounds and rhythm presets to disco strings and the monophonic waves of a 1970s synthesizer. Arpeggio and Hohner notes add extra sharpness to the proceedings. Classics from their live repertoire sit alongside brand-new numbers, invariably strange synthesizer compositions. Looking at the cover, one might be forgiven for thinking that OTTO have finally achieved their goal of establishing themselves as a renowned wedding dance band. The track titles hint at such reveries: champagne on the red carpet, riding a noble horse, fire-eaters, the delirious morning after -- OTTO offer a bouquet of hits which one cannot refuse. In their own words: "I wish it were just a dream."

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Serge Blenner's Magazin Frivole, originally released in 1981. Cold, concise analog synthesizer instrumentals -- on his second album Serge Blenner remained true to his style, albeit shifting course slightly towards pop territory. The juxtaposition of dark harmonies and pop structures is what makes this album so appealing. In places, it feels like a blueprint for early Depeche Mode. Having seen his first album La Vogue (BB 324CD/LP) snapped up by the Sky Records and fast-tracked for release in 1980, Blenner delivered his second LP, Magazin Frivole, the following year. Mindful of the success of its predecessor, Blenner added the name of his debut in big letters to the front cover of the new sleeve. Blenner remained faithful to his musical style, albeit adding more of a pop flavor. Magazin Frivole would not look out of place filed alongside Depeche Mode on the record shelf, as a certain resemblance is undeniable. Moreover, Blenner was one of the few proponents of electronic music who preferred to keep his songs concise, in contrast to the meandering odysseys of many of his electronic contemporaries. The far better-known French artist Jean-Michel Jarre adhered to similar principles, yet although Blenner was often compared to his compatriot, he claims only to have heard his music long after La Vogue had appeared. Minor chords dominate his harmonies, the bass performs octave leaps which mirror the zeitgeist. Unexpected key changes abound, adding a restless, almost disquieting quality. Overall, Magazin Frivole is less dark than the preceding album, but a picture of cheerfulness it is not. Nevertheless, a poppy drum computer introduces a lighter note. From the very first track, chord changes pop up at unexpected junctures -- they seem to come in prematurely, before harmonic sequences have run their course. Blenner doesn't have any explanation for this curiosity, other than to note that "most of the music was played by hand, so of course it wasn't all perfect." "I did all I could to avoid being successful -- on a subconscious level, at least. Unpredictable metrics and irregular beats were definitely part of the process," Blenner admits with an enigmatic smile. Juxtaposed with Blenner's more recent works, one can see what he means. His latest album Musique de Chambre (2008) comprises modern classical chamber music, built on digitally sampled real instruments. Besides, Blenner points out, handling all of those analog devices was a convoluted and complex undertaking.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. A living room somewhere in southern Germany. Embroidery graces the walls, a veneer side table with little chrome feet stands in front of a beige velour sofa, a minibar awaits. Pride of place goes to the electric organ which majestically occupies the center of the room, flanked by two oversized loudspeakers. Welcome to the world of OTTO. The duo comprising Alexander Arpeggio and Cid Hohner released their debut 12"-single -- Greatest Hits -- on the Dutch label Charlois in 2016. It sounded fresh, with abundant references to old school electronic organ music. The recordings were made in Cid Hohner's home studio with the aid of various dusty electronic keyboard instruments, the most important of which was a home organ from the early 1980s -- with integrated auto bass and rhythm patterns, of course. In 2017, OTTO finally dragged their organs on stage to unleash their live set. A second disc (self-released) soon followed. The cover image of a German allotment garden anti-idyll under grey skies reflects the darker tone of Full Auto, the music driven forwards by a 1960s drum machine. OTTO headed for the grimy bars and stages of Europe to perform their new creations. A third 12" appeared in 2018. Stimmungen was released with the support of Orgaton, the society for the promotion of organ music. The cover could be an advertisement for a debt collection agency. Inside: bewilderingly danceable rap, a beguiling ballad, smooth as silk. Once again, OTTO defined the contours of their own organ-disco genre. And there's no stopping them now: the two-man band are set to release their long-awaited debut album in 2019 on Bureau B. The eight tracks contain familiar OTTO ingredients, from organ sounds and rhythm presets to disco strings and the monophonic waves of a 1970s synthesizer. Arpeggio and Hohner notes add extra sharpness to the proceedings. Classics from their live repertoire sit alongside brand-new numbers, invariably strange synthesizer compositions. Looking at the cover, one might be forgiven for thinking that OTTO have finally achieved their goal of establishing themselves as a renowned wedding dance band. The track titles hint at such reveries: champagne on the red carpet, riding a noble horse, fire-eaters, the delirious morning after -- OTTO offer a bouquet of hits which one cannot refuse. In their own words: "I wish it were just a dream."

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Serge Blenner's La Vogue, originally released in 1980. Music for the apocalyptic eighties Deutschland state of mind. When Serge Blenner left his native France for Hamburg, West Germany, neither he nor anyone else could have guessed that he would inadvertently compose a soundtrack for the Cold War. But his dark, monotone synthesizer album La Vogue turned out to be just that. Blenner was born in 1955 in Alsace, the easternmost region of France. He studied composition and harmony at the Conservatoire de Mulhouse. He loved listening to electronic music from the Berlin School: Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel/Manuel Göttsching, whom he got to know when they played in Alsatian churches and chapels. Blenner the proselyte had seen enough to realize: it was time to move to Germany, whence this music came. The year was 1975. He soon began experimenting with electronic music himself and graduated to live performances by 1978 and finally settled in Hamburg in 1979. One of the most important electronic music labels of the period, Sky Records, was based in Hamburg. Within the space of six months, Blenner had recorded the tracks which would become La Vogue and sent them to Sky Records. A deal was done and La Vogue was officially released before the year ended. The record was a resounding success, some tracks even made it onto the radio -- crucially, aired at hours of the day when significant numbers of listeners were tuning in. The longest track on La Vogue by far clocks up to nearly nine minutes, a rarity in Blenner's oeuvre, well outside his usual range of three-to-five minutes. La Vogue is an album of two halves. Through the first four tracks, Blenner still seems to be searching for his own style, beginning with the minimalistic, rather somber fanfare of "Phrase I" built around a single melodic pattern. Next up is the almost poppy, harmonically rich "Phrase II", followed by the spherical "Phrase III" and the crystalline, chiming "Phrase IV". If the first four cuts are linked only by heterogeneity, tracks five to eight are very much of a piece. Together they represent a frosty, menacing soundtrack worthy of the apocalyptic mood which hung over the early 1980s, particularly in West Germany. With Cold War angst at its peak, many people feared a Soviet nuclear attack was imminent.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Serge Blenner's Magazin Frivole, originally released in 1981. Cold, concise analog synthesizer instrumentals -- on his second album Serge Blenner remained true to his style, albeit shifting course slightly towards pop territory. The juxtaposition of dark harmonies and pop structures is what makes this album so appealing. In places, it feels like a blueprint for early Depeche Mode. Having seen his first album La Vogue (BB 324CD/LP) snapped up by the Sky Records and fast-tracked for release in 1980, Blenner delivered his second LP, Magazin Frivole, the following year. Mindful of the success of its predecessor, Blenner added the name of his debut in big letters to the front cover of the new sleeve. Blenner remained faithful to his musical style, albeit adding more of a pop flavor. Magazin Frivole would not look out of place filed alongside Depeche Mode on the record shelf, as a certain resemblance is undeniable. Moreover, Blenner was one of the few proponents of electronic music who preferred to keep his songs concise, in contrast to the meandering odysseys of many of his electronic contemporaries. The far better-known French artist Jean-Michel Jarre adhered to similar principles, yet although Blenner was often compared to his compatriot, he claims only to have heard his music long after La Vogue had appeared. Minor chords dominate his harmonies, the bass performs octave leaps which mirror the zeitgeist. Unexpected key changes abound, adding a restless, almost disquieting quality. Overall, Magazin Frivole is less dark than the preceding album, but a picture of cheerfulness it is not. Nevertheless, a poppy drum computer introduces a lighter note. From the very first track, chord changes pop up at unexpected junctures -- they seem to come in prematurely, before harmonic sequences have run their course. Blenner doesn't have any explanation for this curiosity, other than to note that "most of the music was played by hand, so of course it wasn't all perfect." "I did all I could to avoid being successful -- on a subconscious level, at least. Unpredictable metrics and irregular beats were definitely part of the process," Blenner admits with an enigmatic smile. Juxtaposed with Blenner's more recent works, one can see what he means. His latest album Musique de Chambre (2008) comprises modern classical chamber music, built on digitally sampled real instruments. Besides, Blenner points out, handling all of those analog devices was a convoluted and complex undertaking.