BUREAU B - Forced Exposure

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 7/17/2026

LP version. Recorded in June 1978 during a sweltering Paris summer, Ose's Adonia captures a rare alignment of intellect, imagination and emerging technology. At just 26, Hervé Picart was living three parallel lives: scholar of rhetoric and ancient languages, journalist for the French music press (notably Best), and guitarist /bassist in progressive garage bands. Drawn increasingly away from British prog toward keyboards and synthesizers, he began envisioning a more spatial music situated somewhere between Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, and Kraftwerk. That triangulation would define Adonia. Ose itself was conceived as a variable-geometry project devoted to concept albums, with narrative and composition as guiding forces. Picart imagined a platform that could accommodate shifting collaborators and literary or interplanetary themes. For Adonia, the collaboration formed close to home. Through his journalism he had befriended Richard Pinhas of Heldon, a fellow academic and near neighbor in Paris' Latin Quarter. Their shared philosophical and musical affinities created a natural bond. Picart invited Pinhas not simply as a guest but as a key creative partner, overseeing electronic arrangements and contributing guitar and synthesizer work. Heldon drummer François Auger completed the trio, valued for his remarkable ability to play tightly against sequencers without losing fluidity. Arriving with detailed demo tapes, Picart had mapped much of the material in advance, yet the studio remained a site of invention. Sessions took place at night in Barclay's large studio on Avenue Hoche, by day home to a grand orchestra, prompting moments of astonishment when classical musicians encountered the trio's imposing array of synthesizers, including the Moog 55 modular system. Recorded in a week and mixed in three days: a focused, pre-digital intensity emblematic of the era. Conceptually, Adonia fuses ancient myth and speculative fiction. Over time, the album attained cult status, its sonic freshness undimmed. Standing at the crossroads of Berlin School electronics, progressive rock and early synth-pop, Adonia refracts these currents through a distinctly French sensibility and Pinhas' singular presence. Nearly half a century on, its fusion of myth and modernity remains vivid, a testament to a fertile moment whose echoes continue to resonate.

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 7/17/2026

Recorded in June 1978 during a sweltering Paris summer, Ose's Adonia captures a rare alignment of intellect, imagination and emerging technology. At just 26, Hervé Picart was living three parallel lives: scholar of rhetoric and ancient languages, journalist for the French music press (notably Best), and guitarist /bassist in progressive garage bands. Drawn increasingly away from British prog toward keyboards and synthesizers, he began envisioning a more spatial music situated somewhere between Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, and Kraftwerk. That triangulation would define Adonia. Ose itself was conceived as a variable-geometry project devoted to concept albums, with narrative and composition as guiding forces. Picart imagined a platform that could accommodate shifting collaborators and literary or interplanetary themes. For Adonia, the collaboration formed close to home. Through his journalism he had befriended Richard Pinhas of Heldon, a fellow academic and near neighbor in Paris' Latin Quarter. Their shared philosophical and musical affinities created a natural bond. Picart invited Pinhas not simply as a guest but as a key creative partner, overseeing electronic arrangements and contributing guitar and synthesizer work. Heldon drummer François Auger completed the trio, valued for his remarkable ability to play tightly against sequencers without losing fluidity. Arriving with detailed demo tapes, Picart had mapped much of the material in advance, yet the studio remained a site of invention. Sessions took place at night in Barclay's large studio on Avenue Hoche, by day home to a grand orchestra, prompting moments of astonishment when classical musicians encountered the trio's imposing array of synthesizers, including the Moog 55 modular system. Recorded in a week and mixed in three days: a focused, pre-digital intensity emblematic of the era. Conceptually, Adonia fuses ancient myth and speculative fiction. Over time, the album attained cult status, its sonic freshness undimmed. Standing at the crossroads of Berlin School electronics, progressive rock and early synth-pop, Adonia refracts these currents through a distinctly French sensibility and Pinhas' singular presence. Nearly half a century on, its fusion of myth and modernity remains vivid, a testament to a fertile moment whose echoes continue to resonate.

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 7/10/2026

When Conal was released in 1981 on the Norwegian independent label Uniton Records with an initial run of 4,000 LPs, Schnitzler had already long been known beyond the borders of the Federal Republic of Germany and was now appreciated worldwide as a media artist and musician. In addition to the many cassette and LP editions he released himself, international labels were now increasingly releasing his music. In the same year as Conal, for example, the album Control was released on the American label DYS, followed in 1986 by Concert in the USA and Consequenz 2 in Spain. Schnitzler worked tirelessly and his total work of art, including his music, was becoming increasingly multifaceted. Conal is a good example of this development.

"The two tracks, each around 21 minutes long ('N1' and 'N2'), are not cast from the same mold, but consist of several parts blended together, which are not noted as such in the credits. This sequence creates the character of a narrative divided into several chapters, which, however, does not offer the listener a concrete plot. Schnitzler was not a storyteller. When he divides long pieces into clearly distinguishable sections, as he does here in Conal, it is in order to create a kind of panoramic view of his current work phase in condensed form. The complexity of the individual sections and the extraordinarily skillful and technically flawless crossfades and layering suggest that Conal was once again produced in Peter Baumann's studio. Although the good relationship between the two musicians never led to a musical collaboration, Baumann repeatedly made his extremely well-equipped Paragon Studio available to Schnitzler. It is also conceivable that Baumann and his brilliant sound engineer Will Roper provided useful technical suggestions for the realization of Schnitzler's music. Conal is one of those albums that, when it was released in the early 1980s, astonished Schnitzler listeners in a positive way: Schnitzler had once again dared to take an artistic step forward. It is hard to comprehend that this restless, uncompromising artist released one high-caliber album after another in relatively quick succession. For he was not only a musician, but also a media artist, performer and author of art theory texts. Fortunately, Conal is one of the treasures from his catalogue of works, and I have already asked elsewhere: How many other treasures are waiting to be rediscovered. The grand mosaic that is Schnitzler still has gaps, even when the contours are clearly visible." --Asmus Tietchens, 2025

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 7/10/2026

LP version. When Conal was released in 1981 on the Norwegian independent label Uniton Records with an initial run of 4,000 LPs, Schnitzler had already long been known beyond the borders of the Federal Republic of Germany and was now appreciated worldwide as a media artist and musician. In addition to the many cassette and LP editions he released himself, international labels were now increasingly releasing his music. In the same year as Conal, for example, the album Control was released on the American label DYS, followed in 1986 by Concert in the USA and Consequenz 2 in Spain. Schnitzler worked tirelessly and his total work of art, including his music, was becoming increasingly multifaceted. Conal is a good example of this development.

"The two tracks, each around 21 minutes long ('N1' and 'N2'), are not cast from the same mold, but consist of several parts blended together, which are not noted as such in the credits. This sequence creates the character of a narrative divided into several chapters, which, however, does not offer the listener a concrete plot. Schnitzler was not a storyteller. When he divides long pieces into clearly distinguishable sections, as he does here in Conal, it is in order to create a kind of panoramic view of his current work phase in condensed form. The complexity of the individual sections and the extraordinarily skillful and technically flawless crossfades and layering suggest that Conal was once again produced in Peter Baumann's studio. Although the good relationship between the two musicians never led to a musical collaboration, Baumann repeatedly made his extremely well-equipped Paragon Studio available to Schnitzler. It is also conceivable that Baumann and his brilliant sound engineer Will Roper provided useful technical suggestions for the realization of Schnitzler's music. Conal is one of those albums that, when it was released in the early 1980s, astonished Schnitzler listeners in a positive way: Schnitzler had once again dared to take an artistic step forward. It is hard to comprehend that this restless, uncompromising artist released one high-caliber album after another in relatively quick succession. For he was not only a musician, but also a media artist, performer and author of art theory texts. Fortunately, Conal is one of the treasures from his catalogue of works, and I have already asked elsewhere: How many other treasures are waiting to be rediscovered. The grand mosaic that is Schnitzler still has gaps, even when the contours are clearly visible." --Asmus Tietchens, 2025

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 7/3/2026

With Sowas von Egal Vol 3, the Hamburg-based Damaged Goods DJ team continues its compilation series on Bureau B, once again turning its attention to the underground scenes of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the early 1980s. The selected tracks originate from a period in which, alongside the commercial Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW), a number of innovative and often more abrasive bands and artists operated outside the mainstream. They combined influences from new wave, synthwave, post-punk, and the avant-garde with German lyrics -- and occasionally other languages -- releasing their music in very small editions on indie labels or entirely DIY. As a result, many of these records are now rare and highly sought after. The tracks emerged in a cultural climate strongly shaped by the rupture brought about by punk. Five years after the second installment, the search for hard-to-find artists and rights holders began again. Thanks to the cohesion and supportive network within the scene, it has once more been possible to assemble a carefully curated and lovingly compiled selection. As with the first two volumes, part three follows an approach closely aligned with the DJ repertoire of the Damaged Goods nights. The focus is on captivating, danceable, and catchy tracks. Songs that often reveal their full impact on first listen in a club setting. The aim is to make forgotten or hard-to-access pieces audible and available again. The artwork is once again by Biljana Tomic, drawing on an industrial-apocalyptic sensibility and referencing the iconic facades of Horten department stores, evoking a visual aesthetic of the 1980s. The sound has once again been carefully remastered by Tom Morgenstern. Sowas von Egal Vol 3 seamlessly continues the series and presents itself as a lovingly curated snapshot of a highly productive yet often overlooked phase in German, Austrian, and Swiss pop history. Featuring Guyer's Connection, Starter, Bergtraum, Die Shadocks, Isolierband, Bizarre Leidenschaft, Ziggy & Eno, André Szigethy, Zero Zero, JaJaJa, Ti-Tho, Vorgruppe, X-Beliebig, Trick 17, Die Egozentrischen 2, and Tommi Stumpff.

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 7/3/2026

LP version. With Sowas von Egal Vol 3, the Hamburg-based Damaged Goods DJ team continues its compilation series on Bureau B, once again turning its attention to the underground scenes of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the early 1980s. The selected tracks originate from a period in which, alongside the commercial Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW), a number of innovative and often more abrasive bands and artists operated outside the mainstream. They combined influences from new wave, synthwave, post-punk, and the avant-garde with German lyrics -- and occasionally other languages -- releasing their music in very small editions on indie labels or entirely DIY. As a result, many of these records are now rare and highly sought after. The tracks emerged in a cultural climate strongly shaped by the rupture brought about by punk. Five years after the second installment, the search for hard-to-find artists and rights holders began again. Thanks to the cohesion and supportive network within the scene, it has once more been possible to assemble a carefully curated and lovingly compiled selection. As with the first two volumes, part three follows an approach closely aligned with the DJ repertoire of the Damaged Goods nights. The focus is on captivating, danceable, and catchy tracks. Songs that often reveal their full impact on first listen in a club setting. The aim is to make forgotten or hard-to-access pieces audible and available again. The artwork is once again by Biljana Tomic, drawing on an industrial-apocalyptic sensibility and referencing the iconic facades of Horten department stores, evoking a visual aesthetic of the 1980s. The sound has once again been carefully remastered by Tom Morgenstern. Sowas von Egal Vol 3 seamlessly continues the series and presents itself as a lovingly curated snapshot of a highly productive yet often overlooked phase in German, Austrian, and Swiss pop history. Featuring Guyer's Connection, Starter, Bergtraum, Die Shadocks, Isolierband, Bizarre Leidenschaft, Ziggy & Eno, André Szigethy, Zero Zero, JaJaJa, Ti-Tho, Vorgruppe, X-Beliebig, Trick 17, Die Egozentrischen 2, and Tommi Stumpff.

$28.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 6/12/2026

Cluster -- Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius -- occupy a central position in the evolution of European electronic music, moving from early experimental noise into more open, melodic forms without losing their exploratory edge. Released in 1976, Sowiesoso finds the duo working with a new sense of clarity and restraint, shaping gentle, cyclical pieces from a small set of tools and a deliberately reduced studio setup. The music unfolds with quiet precision, balancing repetition and variation while maintaining an understated rhythmic flow. Marking its 50th anniversary, the album is reissued as a limited LP edition on 180g vinyl, hand-numbered and restricted to 1000 copies. A defining work from Cluster's mid-1970s period, presented in a carefully produced anniversary format. Sowiesoso follows on from Cluster's most highly acclaimed album Zuckerzeit. Michael Rother's influence was clearly audible on the latter, Cluster already having recorded two albums with him under the name of Harmonia. 1976 saw the duo looking for new musical forms. More than any other Cluster album, Sowiesoso represents the utopian vision of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius, its mellow transparency evoking the landscape of the Weser Uplands where the two musicians lived at the time. Sowiesoso is not the work of fanatic dreamers who have fled the metropolis, but the reward for their tenacious search for a new musical language. The LP's seven cuts were recorded in their own studio with modest equipment -- a fourtrack tape machine, two Revox A77 stereo tapedecks and a simple 8-channel mixer. Cluster were thus completely independent, able to work where and when they wanted, at their own pace. With no guest musicians, sound engineers or producers to accommodate, Cluster thrived on their new-found autonomous freedom. Sowiesoso captures them at the peak of their creative development, with the limited range of recording equipment enhancing the clarity of their vision, allowing them to concentrate on the music without drifting into narcissistic muso territory. Minimalist, yet neither formulaic nor automated, the album is a rhythmic tapestry of electronic and acoustic elements. This could only be Cluster music, its harmonies reaffirm the quality of song, in spite of eluding song structure as such.

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 6/5/2026

LP version. The legendary Harald Grosskopf continues his long-standing relationship with Hamburg's Bureau B with Glitches Brew, a vital new LP and the latest stage in his ongoing dialogue with electronic possibility. The titular nod to Miles Davis' masterpiece Bitches Brew reflects Grosskopf's sense of humor, while also hinting at the album's underlying theme: the productive friction between man and machine.

"For the uninitiated, Grosskopf's career spans six decades of German music history. From early beat groups in Hildesheim, through Krautrock propulsion with Wallenstein, cosmic explorations alongside Ashra, and defining work with Klaus Schulze, he has consistently pushed rhythm into evolving technological contexts. His 1980 solo debut Synthesist, previously reissued on Bureau B, helped establish a sequencer-driven language that bridged kosmische tradition and modern electronic form. Created over three to four months in his garden studio, Glitches Brew is shaped by speed and responsiveness. Grosskopf worked primarily with digital instruments this time, travelling light and favoring fast access from feeling to recording. Ideas arrive spontaneously; he works until satisfied, often reshaping sounds the next day if they fail to spark with the same intensity. What emerges is a vivid, present-tense record where human instinct and electronic process remain in constant, audible conversation. Stems are recorded in mono or stereo, passed through a Studer desk and printed to two-track, restoring weight and tactility to digital sources. Where VST synthesis can lack transient bite, analogue circuitry restores what he calls the sensation of leather, wood and metal. The signal path is humanized without surrendering to nostalgia. Glitches Brew balances analogue intuition and digital immediacy, kosmische heritage and contemporary electronic language. It is the work of an artist still following his own ideas, still excited by sound, still testing the edges. Sixty years on from his first beat-group rehearsals, Harald Grosskopf remains what he has always been: a musician for whom rhythm is liberation, technology is possibility, and the future is something to invent again and again." -- Patrick Ryder, 2026

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 6/5/2026

The legendary Harald Grosskopf continues his long-standing relationship with Hamburg's Bureau B with Glitches Brew, a vital new LP and the latest stage in his ongoing dialogue with electronic possibility. The titular nod to Miles Davis' masterpiece Bitches Brew reflects Grosskopf's sense of humor, while also hinting at the album's underlying theme: the productive friction between man and machine.

"For the uninitiated, Grosskopf's career spans six decades of German music history. From early beat groups in Hildesheim, through Krautrock propulsion with Wallenstein, cosmic explorations alongside Ashra, and defining work with Klaus Schulze, he has consistently pushed rhythm into evolving technological contexts. His 1980 solo debut Synthesist, previously reissued on Bureau B, helped establish a sequencer-driven language that bridged kosmische tradition and modern electronic form. Created over three to four months in his garden studio, Glitches Brew is shaped by speed and responsiveness. Grosskopf worked primarily with digital instruments this time, travelling light and favoring fast access from feeling to recording. Ideas arrive spontaneously; he works until satisfied, often reshaping sounds the next day if they fail to spark with the same intensity. What emerges is a vivid, present-tense record where human instinct and electronic process remain in constant, audible conversation. Stems are recorded in mono or stereo, passed through a Studer desk and printed to two-track, restoring weight and tactility to digital sources. Where VST synthesis can lack transient bite, analogue circuitry restores what he calls the sensation of leather, wood and metal. The signal path is humanized without surrendering to nostalgia. Glitches Brew balances analogue intuition and digital immediacy, kosmische heritage and contemporary electronic language. It is the work of an artist still following his own ideas, still excited by sound, still testing the edges. Sixty years on from his first beat-group rehearsals, Harald Grosskopf remains what he has always been: a musician for whom rhythm is liberation, technology is possibility, and the future is something to invent again and again." -- Patrick Ryder, 2026

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/29/2026

LP version. Bureau B presents the reissue of Nothing, the 2001 album by Ata Tak's Frank Fenstermacher and Kurt Dahlke (Pyrolator) aka A Certain Frank, newly remastered and available on vinyl for the first time. Marking its 25th anniversary, the record stands as a quietly distinctive chapter in Düsseldorf's post-Kraut electronic lineage -- understated, atmospheric, and strikingly timeless.

"A Certain Frank emerged in the mid-1990s from Düsseldorf's uniquely fertile musical environment. Kurt Dahlke (Pyrolator) and Frank Fenstermacher were already central figures in the city's post-war pop modernism: pioneers of the so-called Neue Deutsche Welle, members of Der Plan and Fehlfarben, and co-founders of the influential Ata Tak label. Since its founding in 1980, Ata Tak had championed an alternative German aesthetic that combined conceptual thinking with pop sensibility, releasing early work by artists such as DAF, Andreas Dorau, S.Y.P.H., Holger Hiller, and later Oval. Against this backdrop, A Certain Frank proposed a different trajectory -- not oppositional, but deliberately understated. Rather than pursuing dancefloor functionality or revivalist gestures, Dahlke and Fenstermacher turned toward reduction, atmosphere, and subtle reconstruction. Drawing on easy listening and the once so-called 'exotica,' they treated these references as malleable material, reshaping them into something restrained yet contemporary. Nothing completed an informal trilogy shaped by denial and refinement. Conceived from the outset as a fully collaborative work, the album moved beyond sample-based construction toward a largely self-generated sound. Basslines, drum grooves, and synthesizer textures were played live, joined by the voices of Mai Lingani, Karin Knipphals, and Fenstermacher himself -- integrated as tonal elements within a fluid sonic fabric rather than traditional lead vocals. Dutch bassist Pascal Plantinga and Austrian drummer Mike Daliot contributed significantly to the record's light-footed, groove-oriented energy. Originally released at the threshold of the new millennium, Nothing occupies a distinct space between jazz-inflected electronica, cinematic ambience, digital dub, and understated traces of drum and bass and lounge. Neither functional club music nor retro exercise, it embodies a quietly confident strain of Düsseldorf modernism -- reflective, precise, and resistant to spectacle. With this anniversary edition, Bureau B once again highlights a strand of German electronic music that exists between eras and categories. Carefully remastered and now pressed on vinyl for the first time, Nothing returns not as a relic, but as a work whose understated clarity continues to resonate -- a testament to Bureau B's ongoing dedication to preserving and recontextualizing Germany's experimental pop heritage." --Hannes Stutz, 2026

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/29/2026

Bureau B presents the reissue of Nothing, the 2001 album by Ata Tak's Frank Fenstermacher and Kurt Dahlke (Pyrolator) aka A Certain Frank, newly remastered and available on vinyl for the first time. Marking its 25th anniversary, the record stands as a quietly distinctive chapter in Düsseldorf's post-Kraut electronic lineage -- understated, atmospheric, and strikingly timeless.

"A Certain Frank emerged in the mid-1990s from Düsseldorf's uniquely fertile musical environment. Kurt Dahlke (Pyrolator) and Frank Fenstermacher were already central figures in the city's post-war pop modernism: pioneers of the so-called Neue Deutsche Welle, members of Der Plan and Fehlfarben, and co-founders of the influential Ata Tak label. Since its founding in 1980, Ata Tak had championed an alternative German aesthetic that combined conceptual thinking with pop sensibility, releasing early work by artists such as DAF, Andreas Dorau, S.Y.P.H., Holger Hiller, and later Oval. Against this backdrop, A Certain Frank proposed a different trajectory -- not oppositional, but deliberately understated. Rather than pursuing dancefloor functionality or revivalist gestures, Dahlke and Fenstermacher turned toward reduction, atmosphere, and subtle reconstruction. Drawing on easy listening and the once so-called 'exotica,' they treated these references as malleable material, reshaping them into something restrained yet contemporary. Nothing completed an informal trilogy shaped by denial and refinement. Conceived from the outset as a fully collaborative work, the album moved beyond sample-based construction toward a largely self-generated sound. Basslines, drum grooves, and synthesizer textures were played live, joined by the voices of Mai Lingani, Karin Knipphals, and Fenstermacher himself -- integrated as tonal elements within a fluid sonic fabric rather than traditional lead vocals. Dutch bassist Pascal Plantinga and Austrian drummer Mike Daliot contributed significantly to the record's light-footed, groove-oriented energy. Originally released at the threshold of the new millennium, Nothing occupies a distinct space between jazz-inflected electronica, cinematic ambience, digital dub, and understated traces of drum and bass and lounge. Neither functional club music nor retro exercise, it embodies a quietly confident strain of Düsseldorf modernism -- reflective, precise, and resistant to spectacle. With this anniversary edition, Bureau B once again highlights a strand of German electronic music that exists between eras and categories. Carefully remastered and now pressed on vinyl for the first time, Nothing returns not as a relic, but as a work whose understated clarity continues to resonate -- a testament to Bureau B's ongoing dedication to preserving and recontextualizing Germany's experimental pop heritage." --Hannes Stutz, 2026

$29.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/22/2026

With Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale, also released in 1976, Heldon extend their vocabulary into darker and more concentrated territory. The interplay of synthesizer and guitar is sharpened here, shaped into structures that feel both deliberate and unstable, balancing precision with a latent volatility. The album unfolds with a heightened sense of pressure, its pieces moving between propulsion and fragmentation without settling into fixed form. Marking its 50th anniversary, the album returns as a limited edition on orange vinyl, hand-numbered in 500 copies. A compelling document of Heldon at their most focused and intense. 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 -- 1976's Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale -- was named after a live bootleg of a King Crimson concert. Pinhas first met Fripp in 1974. 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. Instead, Pinhas forged another path. He launched his own label, Disjuncta, which he later sold to purchase the Moog synthesizer that would make a huge difference to Heldon's sound. Musical benchmarks aside, Heldon's output also drew from radical science fiction (Philip K. Dick, Norman Spinrad, etc.) as well as philosophy. The sleeve of the fifth LP features a quote from Pierre Klossowski's Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle (1969). The book had profound impact on thinkers such as Jean-François Lyotard, who was Pinhas' PhD supervisor at the Sorbonne, and Gilles Deleuze, another mentor and friend to Pinhas right up until the end of Deleuze's life. Heldon never represented a mere facsimile of Pinhas' musical touchstones: King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, or Frank Zappa.

$29.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/22/2026

Richard Pinhas' Heldon remains a crucial outlier in the 1970s European underground, fusing the more radical edges of progressive rock with early synthesizer experimentation in ways that still feel ahead of their time. Released in 1976, Agneta Nilsson captures a moment of consolidation, as extended pieces evolve through cycles of tension, drift, and release. The album's internal logic feels both rigorous and open-ended, balancing restraint with sudden surges of intensity. Reissued for its 50th anniversary, this edition arrives in red vinyl, hand-numbered and limited to 500 copies. Essential material, sharpened for collectors and new listeners alike. Agneta Nilsson opens with a mind-paralyzing track that proves stillness can have a pulse. As on other early Heldon albums, the rest of Agneta Nilsson is diverse in a nearly contrarian way. Each track refuses to mimic its predecessor in a way that feels rebellious, like a child running away from home. This is true despite the fact that three of the four pieces are actually chapters of "Perspective," partners in a thematic whole. The album-closing "Perspective IV" is one of Pinhas' most unabashedly proto-prog guitar-hero epics, boosted by a technical upgrade. "This was the first album where I had enough money to rent one or two days in a real studio to do the drumming," says Pinhas. "After that we had real budgets for studio time. That all changed with and after Agneta Nilsson -- that was a good turn." Pinhas parlayed Heldon's change of direction into three more adventurous albums in the '70s, and simultaneously spurred himself toward a solo career that continues to prod and probe the sonic universe today, over 40 years since he began. It would be wrong to say this album was the big bang of this singular career; the seeds of were planted years before, and every work Pinhas has been involved with sprouts more sounds and ideas that can grow into their own branches. But Agneta Nilsson is one of the most convincing pieces of evidence that Pinhas in incapable of sitting still.

$16.50 IN STOCK

On their ninth album for Bureau B, the internationally renowned Berlin/Düsseldorf-based outfit Kreidler focus on atmospheric soundscapes -- of course maintaining their signature rhythmic groove, which on Schemes is simply more buoyant and less insistent. Schemes is also characterized by the more pronounced use of nature/outdoor recordings. The track featuring Leo Garcia as a guest vocalist is based on just such a field recording. With Schemes, Kreidler step into a more ambient space of possibilities, crafting an album that feels both carefully considered and delightfully unguarded. The songs on Schemes are like beads hanging on a string. Each one distinct, yet connected. Swinging in a warm breeze. Catching the light from different angles. The album begins with "Beads," with a funky stabby synth drives the song, which nonetheless maintains a hazy ambivalence. "Klove Twin" begins with tiny bells emanating some foggy substance intoxicating the band into a mid-tempo shuffle with some brash brush strokes. "Scrap Metal" might be the genre. "Snowflakes" are enjoying a summer dance, layers of synth melodies intertwined. "Marble Upset" plays with memory, activating recollections of present past, a slowed down rave, faint images, glimpses and gasps. "Via de me," big city, nocturnal lights, an ambient pop take. It may be really quiet, still there are better things to do than to sleep. Leading to "Fenix": Leo Garcia just happened to be in Berlin for a concert. The old friend from Buenos Aires built his euphoric vocal melody impromptu over a noisy urban field recording. The bird rising up out of the ashes, fighting the miseries, towards the light. It is a protest song of the unusual kind. The home stretch is "Tar," where some cicadas continue in a similar spirit, tiny animals having a night on the tiles. The smell of tar in the sun, soft and deep black, in sharp contrast with the background of gently curved hills, pastel-colored, asking what it takes to live peacefully together. The cover artwork by Luzie Meyer mirrors this spirit: A dialogue of sorts, on a string, a psychoanalytic dance. Ideas clash, yet disputes are solved amicably.

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. On their ninth album for Bureau B, the internationally renowned Berlin/Düsseldorf-based outfit Kreidler focus on atmospheric soundscapes -- of course maintaining their signature rhythmic groove, which on Schemes is simply more buoyant and less insistent. Schemes is also characterized by the more pronounced use of nature/outdoor recordings. The track featuring Leo Garcia as a guest vocalist is based on just such a field recording. With Schemes, Kreidler step into a more ambient space of possibilities, crafting an album that feels both carefully considered and delightfully unguarded. The songs on Schemes are like beads hanging on a string. Each one distinct, yet connected. Swinging in a warm breeze. Catching the light from different angles. The album begins with "Beads," with a funky stabby synth drives the song, which nonetheless maintains a hazy ambivalence. "Klove Twin" begins with tiny bells emanating some foggy substance intoxicating the band into a mid-tempo shuffle with some brash brush strokes. "Scrap Metal" might be the genre. "Snowflakes" are enjoying a summer dance, layers of synth melodies intertwined. "Marble Upset" plays with memory, activating recollections of present past, a slowed down rave, faint images, glimpses and gasps. "Via de me," big city, nocturnal lights, an ambient pop take. It may be really quiet, still there are better things to do than to sleep. Leading to "Fenix": Leo Garcia just happened to be in Berlin for a concert. The old friend from Buenos Aires built his euphoric vocal melody impromptu over a noisy urban field recording. The bird rising up out of the ashes, fighting the miseries, towards the light. It is a protest song of the unusual kind. The home stretch is "Tar," where some cicadas continue in a similar spirit, tiny animals having a night on the tiles. The smell of tar in the sun, soft and deep black, in sharp contrast with the background of gently curved hills, pastel-colored, asking what it takes to live peacefully together. The cover artwork by Luzie Meyer mirrors this spirit: A dialogue of sorts, on a string, a psychoanalytic dance. Ideas clash, yet disputes are solved amicably.

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. With Grumpy Pieces, Düsseldorf-based musician Stefan Schwander, aka Harmonious Thelonious, returns with an album that gathers many of the elements that have defined the project over the years -- while simultaneously pushing them apart. The record feels like a tightening of earlier ideas: interlocking melodies, hypnotic patterns, a sustained focus on rhythm and texture, paired with a sound that is rougher, drier and more immediate than before.

"Musically, Grumpy Pieces draws from familiar territory within the Harmonious Thelonious universe: Pan-African and Middle Eastern rhythmic concepts, repetitive minimal structures, stripped-down electronics and noise used as a structural force. Yet everything here feels less fixed, more unstable, at times close to falling apart. Melodies grind against rugged bass foundations; dry snare hits cut sharply through the mix. The groove remains central, but now carries a nervous, fractured quality -- noticeably more restless than one might expect from a project active for nearly eighteen years. The title Grumpy Pieces is more than a wry aside. The album reflects a present shaped by political and social tension. Anger, uncertainty and a muted sense of despair run through the tracks, without the music ever becoming literal or lapsing into overt commentary. Instead, it operates through friction: between dancefloor momentum and disruption, immediacy and resistance. While the A-side opens in a comparatively direct and driving manner with 'And You May Find Yourself,' the B-side increasingly embraces disintegration as a guiding principle, culminating in the aptly titled closing track 'Dissolving.' The album was once again produced in Schwander's home base of Düsseldorf, using a working method rooted firmly in the moment. The tracks were not arranged on a screen, but developed intuitively, recorded, abandoned and reshaped. This approach also connects directly to the live practice of Harmonious Thelonious: music understood as a repetitive state, a trance-like space that insists rather than narrates. Limitation, intuition and spontaneity are not stylistic gestures here, but essential conditions of the music itself. Influences from everyday listening -- from Brazilian music and electronic records to film soundtracks -- remain deliberately submerged, fully absorbed into a self-contained sonic world. Grumpy Pieces is not a break, but a sharpening. An album that further condenses and roughens the unmistakable sound of Harmonious Thelonious, offering an uneasy yet physical soundtrack to the current social climate. Dance music with teeth." --Daniel Jahn, 2026

$16.50 IN STOCK

With Grumpy Pieces, Düsseldorf-based musician Stefan Schwander, aka Harmonious Thelonious, returns with an album that gathers many of the elements that have defined the project over the years -- while simultaneously pushing them apart. The record feels like a tightening of earlier ideas: interlocking melodies, hypnotic patterns, a sustained focus on rhythm and texture, paired with a sound that is rougher, drier and more immediate than before.

"Musically, Grumpy Pieces draws from familiar territory within the Harmonious Thelonious universe: Pan-African and Middle Eastern rhythmic concepts, repetitive minimal structures, stripped-down electronics and noise used as a structural force. Yet everything here feels less fixed, more unstable, at times close to falling apart. Melodies grind against rugged bass foundations; dry snare hits cut sharply through the mix. The groove remains central, but now carries a nervous, fractured quality -- noticeably more restless than one might expect from a project active for nearly eighteen years. The title Grumpy Pieces is more than a wry aside. The album reflects a present shaped by political and social tension. Anger, uncertainty and a muted sense of despair run through the tracks, without the music ever becoming literal or lapsing into overt commentary. Instead, it operates through friction: between dancefloor momentum and disruption, immediacy and resistance. While the A-side opens in a comparatively direct and driving manner with 'And You May Find Yourself,' the B-side increasingly embraces disintegration as a guiding principle, culminating in the aptly titled closing track 'Dissolving.' The album was once again produced in Schwander's home base of Düsseldorf, using a working method rooted firmly in the moment. The tracks were not arranged on a screen, but developed intuitively, recorded, abandoned and reshaped. This approach also connects directly to the live practice of Harmonious Thelonious: music understood as a repetitive state, a trance-like space that insists rather than narrates. Limitation, intuition and spontaneity are not stylistic gestures here, but essential conditions of the music itself. Influences from everyday listening -- from Brazilian music and electronic records to film soundtracks -- remain deliberately submerged, fully absorbed into a self-contained sonic world. Grumpy Pieces is not a break, but a sharpening. An album that further condenses and roughens the unmistakable sound of Harmonious Thelonious, offering an uneasy yet physical soundtrack to the current social climate. Dance music with teeth." --Daniel Jahn, 2026

$16.50 IN STOCK

Convex is one of a series of LPs that Schnitzler released himself in the 1980s. It is one of his LPs that convey virtually no visible information. Only the title is printed in large letters on the cover of Convex, and in tiny letters that are easy to overlook, it says: "Cover Conrad und Richard." The labels on the original LP indicate that one side is called "Convex" and the other "Concav." That's all the information there is.

"On Convex, as on many of his other albums, Schnitzler definitely used a sample-and-hold generator (S/H generator), a device that converts sounds stored as desired into random sequences of tones. This is important to know because this album is also non-keyboard music, i.e., it was not played 'by hand'; instead, the experimental setup is: synthesizer -- sequencer -- S/H generator. Whether Schnitzler could foresee the respective results for each piece or whether he let himself be surprised is uncertain. But I believe he let himself be surprised and decided in each case whether to accept the result or not. Because one of the cornerstones of his artistic concept is controlled chance. However, it is not this method that makes Convex so special, but the slow tempo of the music. With one exception, the other pieces are almost sluggishly slow. Schnitzler certainly never had ambient music in mind, as his music is defined throughout by transparency and dynamic movement. However, Convex does meet some of the criteria defined by Eric Satie for 'musique d'ameublement' and also the concept of 'ambient' further developed by Brian Eno: its calmness and apparent uniformity -- both of which require no attention and yet are a pleasant addition to the atmosphere of a room. A prerequisite for this, however, is a discreet volume level. Schnitzler would probably turn in his grave if he knew that I was placing his music in the vicinity of ambient. And of course it's not ambient. With Convex, Schnitzler remains consistently true to himself. The only unusual thing is that he experiments with 'slowness' here. Schnitzler has carefully faded out some pieces, even though they are suitable for filling an entire LP side. If I were to stick with my thought experiment, this would be another characteristic of ambient music. Convex raises questions that cannot be answered with certainty. But that is precisely why Schnitzler's music remains so interesting." --Asmus Tietchens, 2025

$40.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Camouflage are one of the few German bands to have been making music successfully at home and abroad for the last couple of decades. The Great Commandment (1987) and Love Is A Shield (1989) were actually worldwide hits. After four albums, Camouflage felt it was time to experiment. This phase reached its zenith with the album Spice Crackers in 1995 -- the most daring, most interesting work they ever released. Electropop tracks sit side by side with hypnotic, repetitive, spheric tracks. Now, 30 years later, Spice Crackers is finally released on vinyl for the first time! Heiko Maile, Camouflage founder member and producer of Spice Crackers, has this to say about working on the album: "On our previous productions, we started out with just a few songs, worked on these as demos and then went to an external studio to completely re-record them with a producer. Having the idea to produce an album in our own studio, thus giving us more time to experiment, basically wanting to do the whole thing differently, was the beginning of an interminable recording session. Once we got going, surrounded by synthesizers, drum machines, guitars, microphones, a mammoth analogue mixing desk and a few pieces of recording equipment, we simply taped everything that came into our heads. Only a few of these tracks -- I'm deliberately refraining from calling them songs -- ended up on the original CD. It was a very formative and inspiring time for us in terms of album production."

$16.50 IN STOCK

"Control was created during a phase of Schnitzler's work in which his friendship with Peter Baumann (formerly of Tangerine Dream) allowed him to try out and use new electronic sound generators and peripheral technologies. He never used these innovations merely for their own sake, but always put them at the service of his artistic flair for experimentation. His signature style is clearly recognizable on Control. The album seems to be a kind of compilation of different musical approaches. Tracks 5 and 9, for example, are classic Schnitzler: sparkling cascades of electronic sound particles, interspersed with longer and shorter glissandi, constant movement in all directions. But then there are tracks 1, 8, 11, and 12 -- and here I can only speculate -- where it seems as if Schnitzler wanted to combine a few elements of traditional harmony with his own sound aesthetic in these pieces. And why not? He was completely undaunted by new things. Most important was that the music remained within the framework of his strict overall concept. There is no spacing between the tracks on the original LP, released in 1981 by the DYS label in the US. The A and B sides are originally titled simply 'Control A' and 'Control B', and the thirteen pieces are strung together without interruption. Strange. About half of the tracks on Control are apparently faded in and/or out. This could indicate that Schnitzler either drew on 'overlong' archive material to extract passages suitable for the album, or that he shortened the newly recorded music. Speculation is pointless -- we can no longer ask Schnitzler. In any case, he opted for relatively short pieces averaging three minutes in length, some even shorter, others a little longer. All in all, this creates the impression of sketches. Sketches with sharply defined contours, however: as with almost all his albums, Schnitzler gives us listeners clear information about where he currently resides in his musical universe. For Schnitzler, too, the journey was its own reward, and there were many stops 'on the way to the complete Schnitzler'; he never lingered at any of them for long. His artistic restlessness and curiosity were his lifeblood. And to stay with the metaphor, Control is a strong dose of that elixir." --Asmus Tietchens, 2025

$28.00 IN STOCK

Limited anniversary edition: hand numbered, yellow transparent vinyl, 500 copies available! From 1971 to 1977, Peter Baumann was a member of the legendary Berlin band Tangerine Dream. The group were pioneers of the so-called Berliner Schule (Berlin School) which had such a profound impact on electronic music. He produced a number of momentous albums at his Paragon Studio (by the likes of Conrad Schnitzler, Cluster, Hans-Joachim Roedelius) and also enjoyed success as a solo artist. The influence of Tangerine Dream can clearly be heard on Romance 76, although the arrangements are comparatively minimalist -- a state of affairs for which David Bowie can be held partially responsible. Open to new ideas, Baumann's positive aura and eagerness to experiment galvanized the band's music almost instantaneously. His catchy melodies, rich in positivity, propelled Tangerine Dream into the charts. After five years of chart appearances and extensive touring through Europe and North America, punctuated by several albums, Baumann called time on his solo career with Romance 76. This shift in focus led him to leave Tangerine Dream towards the end of 1977. He and a friend set up the Paragon Studio in Berlin, which would earn a prominent place in music production history, but that's another story. Still a member of the band in 1976, Baumann rented a hall in the ufaFabrik, Berlin to record Romance 76. Sonic similarities to Tangerine Dream can be explained by the fact that the group used the same space for gig rehearsals, giving Baumann access to their instruments. The distinctive sound of a modular synthesizer system christened "The Big One" can be detected on Romance 76, for example, along with a Mellotron. Some tracks on the album, such as "Romance" and "Phase By Phase", are relatively minimalist in character. This airiness lends the unusual synth sounds space to unfold in all their glory. A state of affairs for which David Bowie is partially responsible, as Baumann recalls: "We were in Berlin and met him for dinner, then he would call in while I was recording the album, listening carefully to what I was working on. I explained to him what still needed to be done, but Bowie suggested: 'Leave it as it is, there's enough there already.'" At which point Baumann decided to look at the tracks in question as finished.

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. "Control was created during a phase of Schnitzler's work in which his friendship with Peter Baumann (formerly of Tangerine Dream) allowed him to try out and use new electronic sound generators and peripheral technologies. He never used these innovations merely for their own sake, but always put them at the service of his artistic flair for experimentation. His signature style is clearly recognizable on Control. The album seems to be a kind of compilation of different musical approaches. Tracks 5 and 9, for example, are classic Schnitzler: sparkling cascades of electronic sound particles, interspersed with longer and shorter glissandi, constant movement in all directions. But then there are tracks 1, 8, 11, and 12 -- and here I can only speculate -- where it seems as if Schnitzler wanted to combine a few elements of traditional harmony with his own sound aesthetic in these pieces. And why not? He was completely undaunted by new things. Most important was that the music remained within the framework of his strict overall concept. There is no spacing between the tracks on the original LP, released in 1981 by the DYS label in the US. The A and B sides are originally titled simply 'Control A' and 'Control B', and the thirteen pieces are strung together without interruption. Strange. About half of the tracks on Control are apparently faded in and/or out. This could indicate that Schnitzler either drew on 'overlong' archive material to extract passages suitable for the album, or that he shortened the newly recorded music. Speculation is pointless -- we can no longer ask Schnitzler. In any case, he opted for relatively short pieces averaging three minutes in length, some even shorter, others a little longer. All in all, this creates the impression of sketches. Sketches with sharply defined contours, however: as with almost all his albums, Schnitzler gives us listeners clear information about where he currently resides in his musical universe. For Schnitzler, too, the journey was its own reward, and there were many stops 'on the way to the complete Schnitzler'; he never lingered at any of them for long. His artistic restlessness and curiosity were his lifeblood. And to stay with the metaphor, Control is a strong dose of that elixir." --Asmus Tietchens, 2025

$26.00 NOT IN STOCK

LP version. Convex is one of a series of LPs that Schnitzler released himself in the 1980s. It is one of his LPs that convey virtually no visible information. Only the title is printed in large letters on the cover of Convex, and in tiny letters that are easy to overlook, it says: "Cover Conrad und Richard." The labels on the original LP indicate that one side is called "Convex" and the other "Concav." That's all the information there is.

"On Convex, as on many of his other albums, Schnitzler definitely used a sample-and-hold generator (S/H generator), a device that converts sounds stored as desired into random sequences of tones. This is important to know because this album is also non-keyboard music, i.e., it was not played 'by hand'; instead, the experimental setup is: synthesizer -- sequencer -- S/H generator. Whether Schnitzler could foresee the respective results for each piece or whether he let himself be surprised is uncertain. But I believe he let himself be surprised and decided in each case whether to accept the result or not. Because one of the cornerstones of his artistic concept is controlled chance. However, it is not this method that makes Convex so special, but the slow tempo of the music. With one exception, the other pieces are almost sluggishly slow. Schnitzler certainly never had ambient music in mind, as his music is defined throughout by transparency and dynamic movement. However, Convex does meet some of the criteria defined by Eric Satie for 'musique d'ameublement' and also the concept of 'ambient' further developed by Brian Eno: its calmness and apparent uniformity -- both of which require no attention and yet are a pleasant addition to the atmosphere of a room. A prerequisite for this, however, is a discreet volume level. Schnitzler would probably turn in his grave if he knew that I was placing his music in the vicinity of ambient. And of course it's not ambient. With Convex, Schnitzler remains consistently true to himself. The only unusual thing is that he experiments with 'slowness' here. Schnitzler has carefully faded out some pieces, even though they are suitable for filling an entire LP side. If I were to stick with my thought experiment, this would be another characteristic of ambient music. Convex raises questions that cannot be answered with certainty. But that is precisely why Schnitzler's music remains so interesting." --Asmus Tietchens, 2025

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. So Far, so far out. By 1972, Faust had already dismantled the concept of a rock album. With their self-titled debut, they tore through convention with tape edits, abstract structures, and a scathing collage of cultural detritus. Its successor, recorded just six months later, was not a retreat from that radicalism, but its evolution. Instead of challenging form through outright fragmentation, the band now disguised their subversion in structures that almost, almost, resemble songs. But don't be fooled. This is still Faust: unpredictable, subversive, and unbound by convention. The circumstances surrounding the album's creation were no less unconventional than those of their debut. Faust were still ensconced in the converted schoolhouse in Wümme, Lower Saxony, and its improvised studio -- a riddle of cabling, tape and custom electronics. By this point, the band had grown more cohesive as a unit but remained steadfastly anti-commercial, despite the pleas of their label. Taken as a whole, So Far is less a linear progression from Faust's debut than a sideways leap into a parallel sonic dimension. Where the first album exploded rock from the inside out, So Far rearranges the wreckage into strange new shapes. There's a sly-humor here too, buried under the fuzz and tape edits, a knowing wink that these sonic detours aren't acts of nihilism, but of creation. Faust were building something. What, exactly, remains elusive, and still utterly intoxicating.

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. In 2025, Finnish musician and composer Jimi Tenor celebrated his 60th birthday. He couldn't have imagined a better place to do so than on stage, and so Tenor came to Hamburg with his band in March, not only to celebrate his personal anniversary, but also to record new music. Partly with Hamburg producer Tobias Levin at his Electric Avenue Studio, and partly at Lauri Kallio's Kiikala Center of the Universe Studio Complex, Selenites, Selenites! -- the first album by the Jimi Tenor Band -- was recorded in spring 2025. Tenor can now look back on numerous collaborations, including with Tony Allen, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Kabukabu and Freestyle Man. The band, consisting of Eeti Nieminen, Heikki Tuhkanen, Ekow Alabi Savage, Lauri Kallio and Jimi Tenor, has played numerous club and festival gigs together, but had not yet released an album up till now. Recording for the band's debut began at Lauri Kallio's studio in Kiikala, Finland -- an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere that has been converted into a recording studio aptly named Kiikala Center of the Universe Studio Complex. While the band was recording, Lauri's parents cooked for them using ingredients from the Finnish forest: chanterelle mushrooms and moose meat. After two initial sessions, the recordings were sent to Bureau B in Hamburg, who invited the band to join Tobias Levin at his Electric Avenue Studio for another session lasting several days. As the band had already tried out and internalized most of the songs through live performances, the recordings went smoothly and often required only a single take. This quickly resulted in the eight songs that now make up Selenites, Selenites! As so often in the world of Jimi Tenor, it's about space, dimensions and -- of course -- love, conveyed in that energetic and captivating way that makes it impossible to resist this music. Also featured on the track "Shine All Night" is Tenor's second collaboration with Florence Adooni, the queen of Ghanaian frafra gospel. Selenites, Selenites! is an impressive debut that showcases a group of virtuoso musicians in absolute joy of playing and exploring new sonic connections. This is not just any Afro-jazz album, but an extraordinary journey into a raw and unadulterated sound, as if you were standing right in front of the stage while listening to the record.